Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!bellcore!texbell!uhnix1!sugar!ficc!jeffd
From: jeffd@ficc.uu.net (jeff daiell)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Current law
Keywords: patents, copyrights, firsts
Message-ID: <3986@ficc.uu.net>
Date: 26 Apr 89 15:00:23 GMT
Organization: Ferranti International Controls
Lines: 24


There's been so much talk about what copyright and patent
law *should be*, I'd like to know what it currently *is*.
For instance, if Person A invents something on 1-1-90,
and Person B finds out about it and patents it on
1-15-90, while Person A doesn't get it patented until
2-1-90 -- with all dates being documentable -- which
does the law go with?   The first to invent, or the
first to patent?  And is the law going to change any
time soon?

Please reply by posting and email both.  Any sources/
documentation would also be appreciated.

Para un Tejas Libre,

Jeff Daiell


-- 
       "The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those 
   who, in times of moral crisis, preserved their neutrality."

                                        -- Dante