Comment on Should Salesforce's Tableau Be Granted a Patent On 'Visualizing Hierarchical Data'?
Sxan@piefed.zip 2 days agoIt is how patents work. I can’t claim I have a patent just because I invented it first (which I’m sure I didn’t), but a patent can’t be filled for something for which there is prior art.
You can’t go out and patent the wheel just because nobody has filed for a wheel patent before.
neuromorph@lemmy.world 2 days ago
USPTO changed to first to file in 2013. I can onky speak to US for this change, as that’s where I am filing my inventions.
Sxan@piefed.zip 14 hours ago
Yeah, I’m not taking about competing for a patent; I’m saying you can’t patent something for which there is prior art. Prior art isn’t a patent:
https://govfacts.org/federal/commerce/uspto/navigating-prior-art-before-filing-a-patent/
The fact that software which does this already existed places a barrier in front of a patent filing. A not insurmountable one, but if they pursue a patent violation against some company in the future using the patent they’re awarded, said company could (possibly) use the prior art existence of the software, in the public domain, as defense.
dreadbeef@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 days ago
I don’t see anywhere in 102(a)(1), 102(a)(2), or in the exception clauses of 102(b)(1)(A) or in 102(b)(1)(B) that would imply prior art not including public disclosures (there is a 1 year grace period, but it is not forgiving).
The examples in that presentation show clearly that you can’t patent someone else’s invention if it were public knowledge beyond the 1 year grace period and only the inventors have the right to disclose it within that period and still be granted a patent.
Sxan@piefed.zip 14 hours ago
https://legalclarity.org/can-you-patent-something-that-already-exists/
So, you want 35 U.S.C. § 102, which says:
(emphasis mine).
dreadbeef@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 hours ago
What you posted states the opposite :) I agree with you, though—prior art means you can’t patent it. The person I’m responding to believes otherwise.
tyler@programming.dev 1 day ago
That’s just absolutely incorrect. Like the person below stated, quote the exact part that says prior art doesn’t apply anymore.