I think we can all agree that lots of patents are issued that may not be
ideal
I think we can all agree that lots of "obvious" stuff has had a patent
issued, and never been tested in court, because most patents never go
anywhere.
I think we can all agree that we're free to give opinions about whether a
device may or may not be patentable, infringing, what have you, but that
further,
I think we can all agree that you'd be a special kind of stupid to rely on
opinions from the internet if you were risking your business or legal
position on it.
I think that this sort of discussion is actually quite useful. It provides
a look into how the system works, so that everyone can see that there's a
lot of gray areas, and a lot of room for improvement. If 1 out of 1000
people reading it decide, hey, that's something worth writing my congressman
about, then I think the discussion has been exceedingly valuable.
The law and practice in the intellectual property area is mindbendingly
complex and non-obvious. I think it's good for folks to understand that
it's not this quaint 19th century system where you troop on down to the
Patent Office with your working model, pen and ink drawings on bristol
board, and show it all to the kindly examiner who then goes off and riffles
through the acres of file drawers. I think it's also useful to understand
that, these days, intellectual property rights are a tool of business, like
any other, and like other business tools, tend not to be used altruistically
for the "good of society", but rather, to "enhance shareholder value".
Personally, having been on both sides of incredibly nasty trade secret,
intellectual property, patent disputes and so forth; I'd never hope that I'd
have to enforce a patent, or for that matter, almost any sort of IP rights,
in today's system. It is exceedingly expensive, results in some sort of
secret settlement agreement which doesn't really resolve the underlying
issues in the long run, and often doesn't accomplish your goals (unless
you're in an industry that provides services to such disputes:
stenographers, etc.). One spends an incredible amount of time on something
that is not your core job (i.e. doing the inventing in the first place,
etc.). This is probably the primary reason why I now work where I do (Jet
Propulsion Lab), as opposed to where I used to (entertainment industry).
The real problem you will face is not the company down the street copying
your stuff. Their production and marketing costs will be similar to yours,
and you can probably successfully compete head to head, patent or not. No,
it's the retailer/wholesaler dealing with the importer, who brings in the
infringing items by the containerload from countries with very poor IP
protection. In the overall scheme of things, getting customs to stop the
importation is pretty low on the priority list compared to checking for
drugs, explosives, illegal aliens, etc. Unless you're someone like Sony,
with billions of dollars at stake, you're going to have a hard and expensive
time getting any satisfaction, and that time and money might be better spent
developing and producing the next "better mousetrap". I note that Sony, and
their ilk, haven't been all that successful in reducing the availability of
very high quality bootleg DVDs (most of which are imported), and there, it's
not even a gray area requiring careful legal examination.
That all said, I heartily encourage folks to apply for patents on their
inventions, and to get into the habit of writing things down, etc. No
question that having that patent hanging on the wall is kind of cool, even
if you never earn a penny from it. Even better, publish your ideas in the
open literature, for all to use, and to insure that it's well known as prior
art.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Christensen, Esq." <w9ac@arrl.net>
To: "Bill Ralston" <n7vm@lgcy.com>; <towertalk@contesting.com>
Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2003 6:17 AM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] N4XM Match Info request
> > >In my opinion, the XMatch patent completely fails to satisfy the
> > [non-obviousness]
> > >requirement.
> >
> > Sounds like a legal opinion.
>
> My reply, like yours, is a personal opinion. I assume you skipped the
> preamble of my reply.
>
> <snip>
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Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions
and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
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