From: futplex@pseudonym.com (Futplex)
Date: Fri, 22 Sep 95 01:27:11 PDT
To: cypherpunks@toad.com (Cypherpunks Mailing List)
Subject: Re: Patents and trade secrets was: Encryption algorithms used in PrivaSoft
In-Reply-To: <199509220519.BAA02311@frankenstein.piermont.com>
Message-ID: <9509220827.AA07056@cs.umass.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


David Van Wie writes:
> It just moves the prior art date from the date of invention to the date 
> of filing the patent application.

.pm writes:
> Can you explain that? It doesn't make much sense...

I'll ask a more specific question:

What happens if the chronology goes like this ?

(0) Alice invents a snaffleblort.
(1) Bob invents a snaffleblort.
(2) Bob files for a patent on a snaffleblort.

From what you said, it would appear that Alice's prior art won't count when
it comes to considering the validity of Bob's patent claim. Is that correct ?

-Futplex <futplex@pseudonym.com>