4 ms·
Can patents be invalidated like this? I'm surprised this is the case. Makes the whole thing that much more absurd.
by xutopia 15y ago
Can patents be invalidated like this? I'm surprised this is the case. Makes the whole thing that much more absurd.
- monochromatic 15y agoYou'd be hard pressed to invalidate a utility patent with some footage from a movie, because it probably wouldn't be "enabling." But design patents just claim ornamental designs.
- hugh3 15y agoSome footage could be considered "enabling". For instance if I wanted to patent "Slingshot-launched rideable rocket as a means for catching roadrunners" there'd probably be prior art.
- monochromatic 15y agoSure, in a simple technology... could happen. That's why I hedged my statement a little bit with "probably."
- wanorris 15y agoIt's a design patent, so yes. Previous use of an equivalent design on a TV show is a good as design anywhere else. On the other hand, if someone invents a working replicator, Star Trek will not count as prior art. :-)
- hugh3 15y agoOnly because the show didn't go into sufficient detail about how the replicator worked.
- stan_rogers 15y agoIt's just a serialized and retrieved transport. The key, as with the transporter, is in the Heisenberg compensators -- I have a feeling they may well be patentable under any system that allows patents.
- meric 15y agoUnless it was for a patent for the design of the said replicator...
- michaelfeathers 15y agoIt can certainly happen before patents are approved. A description in Robert Heinlein's book, 'Stranger in a Strange Land' was used as prior art to prevent a patent on water beds.
- Apocryphon 15y agoSo the solution to patent trolling is to have more hard sci-fi that describes mechanisms of upcoming future technology in detail, thus preventing companies from patenting them?
- michaelfeathers 15y agoWorks for me.
- bhickey 15y agoDonald Duck was used as prior art to invalidate a method of ship raising. This was discussed at length on HN six months ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2232857 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2232857
- pbhjpbhj 15y agoRegular [Utility] Patents can be invalidated by any prior disclosure of the invention, it doesn't matter what form that disclosure is in provided it is rendered in public (and, with a few more conditions, not part of a recognised trade show in the US). There's a UK patent application, a doggy doorbell IIRC, that was refused based on a British children's comic called the Beano anticipating it.
- watmough 15y agoThat reminds me of something the New Scientist published years ago, ahh yes, the thermonuclear cat flap... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Paul_Pedrick#Chromatically_selective_cat_flap http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Paul_Pedrick#Chromatical... You couldn't make this stuff up.