Xref: utzoo comp.org.eff.talk:412 trial.misc.legal.software:71 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!shelby!bu.edu!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!haven!adm!cmcl2!kramden.acf.nyu.edu!brnstnd From: brnstnd@kramden.acf.nyu.edu (Dan Bernstein) Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk,trial.misc.legal.software Subject: Re: Way to fight trivial patents Message-ID: <26987:Oct2220:27:1490@kramden.acf.nyu.edu> Date: 22 Oct 90 20:27:14 GMT References: <1990Oct7.175737.12808@agate.berkeley.edu> <152362@felix.UUCP> Distribution: usa Organization: IR Lines: 17 In article bzs@world.std.com (Barry Shein) writes: > >I'm not a lawyer, but it is true that you can't patent an idea that's > >been discussed before in a public forum (e.g, USENET). That is, to be > >patent-able, it must have *never* been available in published form. > I believe that (at least) that last sentence is not true. Apparently > you have up to a year after publication to file a patent. You do---in the United States. No other country allows patents after publication, to my knowledge. So the Japanese can use compress. :-( In any case, the point that the first poster was trying to make is correct: once Joe Shmoe has published X, nobody can patent X---except maybe Joe, but only within a year, and only in the US. That doesn't mean you can assume that a published result is unpatented, since patents are kept secret during the several-year approval process. ---Dan