🚀 go-pugleaf

In perusing the Encyclopedia Britanica (I'm a Univ of Chicago product,
so what else could I read? :-) I have found a statement that 

	"In most countries, if the invention has become known
	to the public (e.g., by having been described in a printed
	publication, by having been put into public use or otherwise
	having become known to the public) before application for
	patent is made, it is no longer considered novel, and a
	valid patent cannot be obtained."

Although this doesn't address the question of patents, it does seem
to provide an avenue for defeating those "nusance" patents, like someone
patenting addition. :-)

Does the above rule apply in this country? If so, I'm willing to dig around
in my old BASIC programs and find some implementations of these silly
patents.

The same article in the EB addresses a concept known as "inventive merit",
or "obviousness". To a non-programmer, all algorithms must seem nonobvious.
Does the US patent office have only non-programmers working for it, or is
it stocked with corporate buddies?

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Dietrich Kappe
kap1@icarus.spc.uchicago.edu