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Date:      Thu, 11 Oct 2001 09:10:54 -0500
From:      Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org>
To:        "Ted Mittelstaedt" <tedm@toybox.placo.com>
Cc:        <freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG>
Subject:   RE: Use of the UNIX Trademark
Message-ID:  <15301.43118.69706.571120@guru.mired.org>
In-Reply-To: <007701c15216$867d47c0$1401a8c0@tedm.placo.com>
References:  <20011010140126.M387@blossom.cjclark.org> <007701c15216$867d47c0$1401a8c0@tedm.placo.com>

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Ted Mittelstaedt <tedm@toybox.placo.com> types:
> One thing people forget about patents is that they create a permanent record
> of a process or device.  While the most spectacular patents (new drugs, etc.)
> get plenty of attention in various medical journals and such, the majority of
> patents
> are granted for small little things, for example a hand tool.  These new
> inventions generally never see wide distribution and if there wasn't ever a
> patent on them, the invention might disappear forever.  With a patent, someone
> 20 or 30 years later that needs a particular thing can do a patent search and
> see
> if anyone has ever manufactured an invention that solves what they need to do,
> and if they find an expired patent on an invention they can use the contact
> info
> to perhaps dig up a set of plans for it.

This is sort of like open source for mechanical devices. A client of
mine had an air rifle that had been orphaned - it being nearly 40
years old. He really liked the thing, and was rather upset when it
broke and he found out that nobody would repair it. Looking into new
guns made the problem worse, as he considered them both overpriced and
lower quality.

I got involved to do a patent search for him, and lo and behold we
turned up the original patent for the thing - including plans. This
made it possible for him to repair it himself.

	<mike
--
Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org>			http://www.mired.org/home/mwm/
Q: How do you make the gods laugh?		A: Tell them your plans.

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