NoNukes writes:
In what way are you suggesting that public announcements are protected? I'm not sure I understand your proposition. I'm guessing you are suggesting that we cannot exploit revealed technology once an application is filed. But that's not correct. The patent won't affect uses that occur before the patent issues (with some exceptions only applicable in the US).
I'm only asking, not claiming I know anything for certain. I'm only familiar with US law, and only what I learned in the class that one of the company's attorneys gave (he covered trade secrets, too) combined with the established practices that we have to follow. We don't disclose to customers (which we're told constitutes a public disclosure) until after we've filed the patent application. Because of this practice I assumed that any uses of our invention were protected after the application was filed, else we would have had to wait until after the patent was granted before disclosing to customers.
I think it would be extraordinarily difficult to get a patent for cold fusion through the US patent office because the PTO is predisposed to believe that cold fusion is as bollocks as perpetual motion.
Yeah, the analogy to perpetual motion machines occurred to me, too.
--Percy