Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!apple!tahoe!marki
From: marki@tahoe.unr.edu (Mark N. Iverson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Patents...
Message-ID: <4120@tahoe.unr.edu>
Date: 14 Jun 90 22:24:47 GMT
References: <21774@snow-white.udel.EDU> <25270@usc.edu> <26765a47-21a9.3comp.sys.amiga-1@tronsbox.xei.com> <25284@usc.edu> <MWM.90Jun14110900@raven.pa.dec.com>
Reply-To: marki@tahoe.unr.edu (Mark N. Iverson)
Distribution: na
Organization: Desert Research Institute - Atmospheric Sciences Center
Lines: 35

In article <MWM.90Jun14110900@raven.pa.dec.com> mwm@raven.pa.dec.com (Mike (Real Amigas have keyboard garages) Meyer) writes:
>In article <25284@usc.edu> papa@pollux.usc.edu (Marco Papa) writes:
>
>   Tell that to Rivest, Shamir and Adleman :-) They'll tell you that you CAN
>   patent ideas (i.e. inventions).
>
>Um, I think that for a patent, you're required to have a working
>implementation to obtain the patent. This is slightly different than
>being able to patent an idea.

Last time I looked into this (within the last 18 mths) you cannot patent an
IDEA.  YOU CAN PATENT THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE IDEA (i.e. you must have 
a working prototype).  To get the "jump" on things, you can submit a 
Disclosure Document (~$10 fee) to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.  This
is a simple document that has a verbal explanation and some figures that 
illustrate the idea.  You explain it to a notary public, get it notarized,
and send it into the patent office.  They file it for 2 years.  Its purpose
is to establish a DATE OF CONCEPTION that will hold up in court, in the case 
that someone else has thought up the same idea and beats you to market.
The D.D. is NOT a patent; it does, however, give you time to build a 
prototype and begin the paperwork for a patent.

There are also DESIGN patents, but we won't go into those.

[rest of mike's article deleted]

>
>	<mike

--mark
-- 
Mark N. Iverson
uunet!unrvax!tahoe!marki            /  We dance round in a ring and suppose,
marki@tahoe.unr.edu  (scientists)->|   but The Secret sits in the middle,
marki@clouds.unr.edu                \  and knows.               -- R. Frost