🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <utzoo.7123> henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) writes:
>> well, when i was a sophomore at caltech in 1981, a guy taking the
>> microprocessor lab with me built a 68000 system with exactly this
>> memory management scheme. i am sure his project proposal is still on
>> file with the professor of that class...
>
>If you have to dig into the prof's files to find out about it, it's not
>an issue for Andy's patent.

It's then known as a "trade secret."  If you figure out someone else's 
trade secret, you can patent it.  The original purpose of the patent system
was to encourage disclosure of new inventions;  giving the inventor exclusive
rights for a period of time was seen as an inducement to this end.

Of course, as Henry points out, if the scheme was published or presented
publicly, then it's not patentable, because it has already been disclosed.
(...though I believe an inventor can file for a patent up to one year after
he's disclosed his invention in  public....)

Irrelevant to this newsgroup of course; sorry.  And no, I'm not a patent 
attorney either.

Peter S. Shenkin	 Columbia Univ. Biology Dept., NY, NY  10027
{philabs,rna}!cubsvax!peters		cubsvax!peters@columbia.ARPA