7 ms·
Crowdfunding Backer Patented My Project (2018)
- jwilber 5y agoWow, what an actual leech of a human this Jill MacKay. Disgusting sense of greed and lack of morals.
- darig 5y agoDid you do any research of your own to validate these claims, or do you just spout libel on command? Disgusting.
- dang 5y agoPlease don't fulminate or call names on HN. You may not owe a rogue patenter better, but you owe this community better if you're participating here. Please review the site guidelines and stick to them: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.
- jwilber 5y agoSure. Wow, what an actual leech of a human, the literal subject of the linked essay. Disgusting sense of greed and lack of morals.
- SV_BubbleTime 5y ago[2018] I think the author was also a guest on the Embedded.fm pod cast where she or someone from PatentPandas explains the story more. [0] Patent law on all topics can be summed up with one simple phrase. Doesn't matter if you're applying, fighting, buying, all your prior art, the number of sealed envelopes you mailed yourself, testimony, claims, or anything else on the topic.... When it comes to anything patent: "You're going to need a lawyer" EDIT: Found it, https://embedded.fm/episodes/277 https://embedded.fm/episodes/277
- plumeria 5y agoWhat about "Patent It Yourself: Your Step-by-Step Guide to Filing at the U.S. Patent Office" by David Pressman?
- kens 5y agoI applied for a patent after reading that book but was unsuccessful (for various reasons). I successfully obtained different patents with an attorney. I found what I learned from the book to be very helpful when getting patents with an attorney.
- breck 5y agoShameless plug: Help us pass a constitutional amendment to abolish patents and copyrights (https://www.reddit.com/r/ifa/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ifa/). Safety not guaranteed. I have only done this once before.
- Gene_Parmesan 5y agoWhy does anyone think abolishing copyright is a good idea? Your friend writes a novel. They've never been published before, so they shop it around to various publishers, but no dice. A little while later, they see a hot new entry on the bestsellers list, and surprise, it's their novel word for word - one of the publishers took it. Without copyright this can happen to writers, musicians, film creators, artists, and so on. There should absolutely be limits on copyright. Disney should not be allowed to turn the copyright laws into their own personal tool. But I see so many people who get angry when corporations take advantage of copyright, and so few of them seem to consider the fact that the same laws protect the little guy against those same corporations. Unless we want Disney to literally be able to get away with stealing art from anyone and everyone, we need intellectual property laws. As for patents, the general idea behind patents is that in order to get one, you need to describe your technique. The motivation is furthering shared knowledge - we give you the promise of exclusive use of the patent for a limited time in order to encourage you to divulge your invention. Patent law is more ripe for abuse than copyright but its general policy motive is still sound.
- erichocean 5y ago> Why does anyone think abolishing copyright is a good idea? Because entire industries, like fashion, have no intellectual property protection—and work just fine. In fact, they're extremely wealthy industries, with very low costs for consumers.
- 908B64B197 5y agoWith R&D costs near 0.
- dang 5y agoDiscussed at the time: Crowdfunding Backer Patented My Project - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18568641 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18568641 - Nov 2018 (46 comments)
- asxd 5y agoWow, what a journey. I'm glad the original authors took such a rational and mentally healthy approach to such a frustrating situation. On the plus side, I'd never heard of Chibitronics, but it seems so approachable that I am now strongly considering getting some of the starter kits for my 8 y/o nephew :)
- joshspankit 5y agoDitto. The product is here: https://chibitronics.myshopify.com/products/chibitronics-chibi-lights-led-circuit-stickers-stem-starter-kit?variant=4236515393 https://chibitronics.myshopify.com/products/chibitronics-chi... Caveat: I probably will not end up going for it since the book ($10) doesn’t come with the LEDs, the stem kit is a reasonable $35, but with shipping (to Canada) and tax it comes to $63.47USD.
- toss1 5y agoNice lesson that a patent, other than some possible value to the marketing dept, is nothing more than a a ticket to start a lawsuit. It does not actually prevent anyone else from infringing or doing what they want, unless and until they hire the lawyers to attempt to enforce it. Having a lot of published prior art may form a decent moat. Sure, you'll have to defend, but if you fold, they get nothing, and if you sustain the defense, they'll likely lose the patent entirely. She also makes a very good point about bridging patent- light and patent-heavy sectors/cultures. Also relevant is Musk's choice with SpaceX at the other end of the scale -- to forego patents entirely in favor of the trade secret route. He figures that publishing in a patent would just be tantamount to publishing manuals for the Chinese and also be unenforceable... Patents sometimes seem almost magic, but they're really quite limited.
- musesum 5y agoYou can sue in Pro Per(son) -- essential act as your own lawyer. I know someone who studied the Law so he could sue his former business partners. Most of it was a reverse deep pockets kinda game: "It will cost you $300K in legal fees to defend yourself ... or settle for a fraction of the cost." As a result, I and colleagues ignore this troll. But, there are intriguing implications ... For example: register the site patent<patent#>.com and use the site to link to the facts. Maybe add the legal definition of "In Pro Person." Thus, when someone does a search on the Patent #, your disclosure site will appear. Another example: Claim copyright on the expression of the idea. Thus, anyone attempting to express the patent would infringe on the copyright. Disclaimer: IANAL. I could be off-base here. Get a valid legal opinion to save yourself some grief. And good luck!
- Kesseki 5y agoNo. Absolutely do not act as your own patent lawyer - ever - especially in litigation. It is correctly considered an arcane and difficult field even by other lawyers.
- musesum 5y agoThe ability to sue is not the same as suing. Simply the threat of a lawsuit is enough to discourage some transactions. That's the point. In my case, I used a hybrid approach: I studied the law, drew up a response, and then hired a lawyer at $900/hour (as he was a law professor) to put out a response though his firm. By understanding the basics, I could hypothesize a response, on my own time, and then verify that hypothesis with an expert. [update] Actually, I just re-read my above post, and didn't make the point very well. Thanks for pointing that out.
- wly_cdgr 5y agoThis is almost as bad as cheating in sports. Truly the world is a foul and desolate wasteland, but full marks to the OP for dredging onward stoically through the mire
- maverick-iceman 5y agoThe only good news is that the person who patented his invention is a woman. Woman were, for the longest time, singled out as lacking the killer instinct to succeed in business. Not her apparently!
- swayvil 5y agoThe immorality of this makes me a little crazy. I feel like a flatlander being shown the third dimension. I get a (very) mild panic attack. My first thought is, "well maybe she (the evil patent person) really needed the money". My second thought is, "Maybe the monetary prospects were just so awesome that it overrode her sense of decency". And then, after reflecting, the list of things that I would not suck for a million dollars is darn short. So hmm. Am I evil? Maybe. I blame capitalism.
- motoxpro 5y agoOne of the positive things about capitalism is that's actually viable way to make a million dollars if you'd like. Choice is yours my friend.
- thatguy0900 5y agoHow is being able to make a million dollars by outright patent fraud a positive aspect of capatalism?
- antifa 5y agoThey accidentally said the quiet part out loud.
- vmception 5y ago> So though I’m not happy to be in this complicated patent situation, I’m still glad that we chose to share our ideas as openly and as broadly as possible. The reality is that it wasn't complicated. Getting the answer was expensive and complicated for them, without free guidance. Jill wasted her time filing that patent which would be invalidated if Jill ever tried to use the patent on the prior art creators. There is a chance that Jill can get settlements from other people though. But anyone Jill actually has to go into litigation with will get that patent invalidated.
- Fostereli0 5y agoSo much to write about Support @ hacker4wise com which if I start I will cover the whole internet with the good jobs this hacker has done for me so far but right now all I can say to hacker4wise is I will forever be grateful to you, you really saved me from sudden heart break from my spouse with your hacking services I found out right on time before my spouse could execute his plan with his side chick