Messages in this thread | | | Date | Thu, 5 Oct 2000 23:33:46 -0600 | From | "Jeff V. Merkey" <> | Subject | Re: Tux 2 patents |
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On Fri, Oct 06, 2000 at 07:14:44AM +0200, Daniel Phillips wrote: > "Jeff V. Merkey" wrote: > > > > The patent attorneys at Malinkrodt received the materials Daniel sent > > yesterday on the Tux 2 patents via courier and are working on the > > analysis. They said they would have something for us to post on LKML > > next week. > > I'll calm down and work on my magicpoint slides for now. >
I think you are ok based on our preliminary review, but the patent lawyers will go down each claim granted by the USPTO in related patents, and analyze them relative to your proposed methods. Patents are granted for specific "methods" or ways of implementing stuff, and to infringe, you have to copy the methods described in the claims of the patent and be using them in the same basic combinations. The patent process in the US is a lot like filing a lawsuit. The patent application contains a series of "claims" for the invention, just as a petition for relief in a lawsuit contains "claims" of issues of fact.
The patent lawyers have this fancy software (that costs a lot of $$$) that can cross reference your invention with thousands of patents quickly, and look for similiar "methods". The three you identified was very light -- there's probably going to be a larger number identified by these guys since patent attorneys have access to patents pending and provisional patent applications, which are not available to the general public. There's no telling how many provisional patents might be around with something like this.
I would be unconcerned. 95% of getting around patents is just having patent lawyers to handle the politics at the USPTO. Most of the patent process in the US is very much a political process as much as a legal one. Think of a patent lawyer as someone in Congress lobbying for your interests, and you will have kind of the right picture of the "patent racket" in the US. Most patent infringment lawsuits end up in mediation with the USPTO with one side or the other having specific patent claims revoked because one side or the other gets their patent lawyers sending letters to the USPTO challenging prior art claims. Novell in their lawsuit with Roger Billings over the Network Operating System patents in 1993 convinced the patent office to invalidate his patents by shear force in numbers of legions of patent lawyers and a mountain of research and prior art claims -- they could not have gotten out of the infringement suit otherwise....
:-)
Jeff
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