Re: patents

From: Alberto Novo <alt-list@albertonovo.it>
Subject: patents
Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2006 11:23:24 +0100

> Finally, I wish to bring your attention to a very recent "A method for
> making internegative" (JP2004058378). See
> http://v3.espacenet.com/textdoc?DB=EPODOC&IDX=JP2004058378&F=0 (all in one
> line).
> It is entirely written in Japanese, but look at the images in the last two
> pages!!!

That is not a patent. It is an unexamined patent application, which
was automatically published 18 months after application. If the
applicant wants to pursue the patent, he would have to pay US$800+ of
fee (exact amount varies depending on the number of claims, etc.) and
get that application examined. Then if the result was favorable, the
applicant would have to pay another fee to establish the patent. I
didn't check whether the application was examined, though.

Without waiting for the patent right to be established, the
inventor/applicant can still warn others for infringement. They can
also charge for the damage, but only after the patent is established.

Many corporations send in a lot of applications, which will get
published unexamined. Only some applications go to the next stage to
be examined, often with some additional delay in the process. There
are several advantages in doing this, unless an immediate competitor
exists. However, this patent application is filed by an individual
inventor and I am not sure of his strategy.

Many people are familiar with US Patent process, but note that the
system is very different in the US.
Received on Tue Feb 14 10:12:03 2006