🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <3280@stl.stc.co.uk>, dww@stl.stc.co.uk (David Wright) writes:

> What I don't understand is how Unisys can have a 1989 patent on a method
> published in 1984 - perhaps it took 5 years to be granted?   In the UK you
> cannot patent something after it has been published (I understand that in
> some countries such as the USA you can do so within a year of publication).
> Does anyone know when the 1989 patent was applied for?    If after the 1984
> publication then it cannot be effective in the UK, and I believe the same
> would apply if after 1985 in the USA.

I have no idea what the dates are for other countries.  In the U.S.,
the patent was applied for on June 20, 1983, and granted December 10,
1985.  Publication of the paper was in June, 1984.  I believe that
protection extends for 17 years from date of issuance, i.e., until late
in 2002.  I don't know of any later patents, but I hardly claim to have
done an exhaustive search.  Note that it's entirely possible that no
non-U.S. patents were ever applied for.

> It would also be interesting to see
> whether such a patent, which no doubt covers an implementation in a modem,
> would stand up in court in the case where only the underlying algorithm is
> used, and that implemented purely as a piece of software (aot software used
> as part of a mechanism) -- but I wouldn't like to be the one paying the
> legal fees to find out :->

If the patent was properly drafted, I suspect that it would stand up
in court.