P3D Re: Patents

[Larry Berlin <lberlin@xxxxxxxxx>]

>Date: Fri, 23 Jan 1998 
>From: Michael Kersenbrock writes:
>
>If one improves on another's patent, and patent your improvement, 
>you are still subject to the original patent, you haven't gotten
>around it.  To get around it you need to come up with another way
>to do things that doesn't fall within the other's patent claims
>*at all*.  In other words, a completely different idea on how
>to accomplish the same objective.  

****  I consulted a patent attorney on a simple stereo viewing device. I
asked, *what happens if someone's patent uses the same basic lens shape as
my device?* His response was, if you invent a carburetor adjusting device
that just happens to look like a table fork, you might still have a valid
and original patent, but not a patent for table forks. Being unique and
specifying exactly how it is unique is a fundamental aspect of patenting.

>..............
>........  The head patent lawyer at my last company said something
>like "when things get to the courts, being right still gives you only
>a 50-50 chance of prevailing".  :-(
>
>Don't know if he was just in a sarcastic mood or not,........

*****  He was being truthful. A patent gives you legal right to sue someone
else over unauthorized use of your device. It doesn't prevent them from
using it. Secrecy is the best protection if it's protection you want.

Larry Berlin

Email: lberlin@xxxxxxxxx
http://www.sonic.net/~lberlin/
http://3dzine.simplenet.com/


------------------------------