> Are you saying that anyone who independently derived the mechanism — before the first machine was made public or the patent diagrams were published — should a

> Are you saying that anyone who independently derived the mechanism — before the first machine was made public or the patent diagrams were published — should also be granted the patent? You seem incredulous that a "first to invent" system could work, but US moved away from that system less than a decade ago. Edit: Never mind the first post was about independent derivations. That's not the same thing. My mistake.