Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!gatech!udel!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!uupsi!ficc!peter From: peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) Newsgroups: comp.misc Subject: Re: hayes lawsuit Message-ID: Date: 23 May 91 13:03:06 GMT References: <14833@ulysses.att.com> <3152@cirrusl.UUCP> Reply-To: peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) Distribution: usa Organization: Xenix Support, FICC Lines: 13 Inappropriate patents are not new. For example, James Watt's original steam engine used a complex "sun and planet" gear to convert reciprocating motion to rotary motion because someone had got a patent on the use of the crank in the context of steam engines. Prior art, in this case, included several centuries (millenia?) worth of treadle-operated devices such as spinning wheels, lathes, and the like. Luckily for Watt, the patent wasn't on the idea of converting reciprocating motion to rotary motion, which is closer to what most of these software patents purport to cover. -- Peter da Silva; Ferranti International Controls Corporation; +1 713 274 5180; Sugar Land, TX 77487-5012; `-_-' "Have you hugged your wolf, today?"