3 ms·

The patent was required to be sufficiently detailed to allow producing compatible cups? I don't think so.

• ghayes 13y ago
  Isn't that the point of a patent?
  • kefka 13y ago
    Well, yeah. However it has also been the game with patents to use as obtuse and as confusing and as little detail to get the patent while making sure people can't reproduce it. So yeah, we get the worst of both worlds: money extraction of exclusivity and lack of understanding that patents were supposed to solve.
  • shasta 13y ago
    I haven't read the patent, but I assume Keurig patents a way to improve cups in some obscure way that probably doesn't matter but for which they can claim novelty. Their patent must explain how to implement this "improvement". Now, in order to be compatible with a Keurig machine, you must implement this "improvement", which is really the point of the "improvement" in the first place and why I keep putting it in quotes. But compatibility with a Keurig machine is not what's patented and there can be plenty of other undisclosed details that prevent someone from making Keurig compatible coffee cups.