[okfn-discuss] [Fwd: SumoBrain now free]

[Julian Priest]

On Wed, Oct 15, 2008 at 11:23:30PM +0100, Saul Albert wrote:
> Ianal, but I think prior publication does not prevent UK patents from  
> being applied for by corporates.

I was reading this from the US which talks only about first publication.

http://www.iusmentis.com/patents/priorart/

"Prior art for a patent (application) means anything published before
the filing date of the patent which describes the same or a similar
invention."

> UK patent law is based on first application, rather than first
> invention.

hmm all jurisdictions are different.. that's a problem

<snip>

> It's not enough to have one patent, you have to have a whole patent  
> strategy that lasts for the entire lifecycle of your product. One  
> product may require 15 to 20 patents to circumscribe it's potential  
> profitable uses. Each patent, if you wish to defend it worldwide -  
> through courts if you have to, might cost an average of 100k over a  
> products lifetime.

So wondering if you could short circuit the entire procedure and cost
just by publishing a white paper?

> No wonder my friend - the last in a long line and family business of  
> patent attourneys - quit. It's too boring these days. The corporates  
> are the only people in the patent game. Apparrently everyone else does  
> it solely because funders are unaccountably fond of the things.

I guess you'd need somehow to be prepared to prosecute prior art
infringers.. then maybe an association of non patenting white paper
publishers who wanted their designs to remain unpatentable might be an
idea. chip in a tenner an open white paper to have the funds to be
able to prosecute one test case..

something like this below - whitepaper.okfn.org :)

In the end I guess legal remedies or declarations are ok but mass
uptake, mass use and rapid propogation of ideas and designs is far
more important.. move designs to the obvious category.

cheers

/julian

Open White Paper

Abstract

An online white paper publishing system is proposed which enables an
inventor to publish a design under an open content license in order to
allow public distribution of the design and simultaneously establish
prior art. The white papers are accompanied by a text that declares
the intention to use the establishment of prior art as a means of
contesting future patent claims. The publication system is accompanied
by a business method for collecting revenue to contest a white paper
in a future patent infringement. The publication system is arranged in
such a way as to facilitate ease of searching by patent authorities
using a meta data schema.

Declaration

I declare that I will not attempt to patent the 'Open White Paper'
design. The intention in creating this white paper is to prevent
future patents on the 'Open White Paper' design as specified in this
abstract.

Published: okfn-discuss mailing list http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/okfn-discuss
Date. 16.10.2008
Author. Julian Priest
License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/