Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!ames!eos!shelby!helens!baroque!jim From: jim@baroque.Stanford.EDU (James Helman) Newsgroups: comp.arch Subject: Re: Patents and Misinformation Message-ID: Date: 29 Jun 90 02:08:13 GMT References: <1990Jun28.163043.501@craycos.com> Sender: news@helens.Stanford.EDU Organization: Stanford University Lines: 18 In-reply-to: rh@craycos.com's message of 28 Jun 90 16:30:43 GMT Publication more than 12 months before the application or anytime prior to the claimed invention date is sufficient to disqualify an application. Still, if a patent is what you want, it's risky to publish or give out too much useful information before applying, especially if you have not yet reduced the idea to practice. There is always a danger that someone else has had the same idea and could file before you. In this case, the first inventor can actually lose patent priority to a more recent inventor if he was not the first to reduce the process to practice or was not at least diligently trying to do so before the other inventor thought of it. Jim Helman Department of Applied Physics 6 Trillium Lane Stanford University San Carlos, CA 94070 (jim@thrush.stanford.edu) (415) 723-9127