3 ms·
And the patent has already expired: Patent number 5,345,551 was filed on November 9, 1992. That makes it a 17 years from issue date patent. It issued on Septe
by pwg 14y ago
And the patent has already expired:
Patent number 5,345,551 was filed on November 9, 1992. That makes it a 17 years from issue date patent.
It issued on September 6, 1994. September 6, 1994 + 17 years is September 6, 2011. The patent expired over one year ago. It is dead, one can no longer by sued for doing anything it claims.
- jimktrains2 14y agoAccording to http://www.uspto.gov/patents/process/status/ http://www.uspto.gov/patents/process/status/ it is a patent case, which I interpret to mean it's still in force. (After the captcha, select patent number and enter 5345551, note the lack of commas)(IANAL and could be wrong.) (Sorry, I can't link directly to the page, it's a crappy application).
- pwg 14y agoThat look-up just reports that the application became a patent. That status there does not determine its expiration date. Barring something exceptional it died over a year ago.
- jimktrains2 14y agoI know it gets updated if the owner doesn't pay the renewal fees, so I figured it would show when it wasn't in force any more ::shrug::