🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <610@nike.UUCP> lamaster@pioneer.UUCP (Hugh LaMaster) writes:
>Does anyone know what the current patent law provides for the time period
>of exclusive use?  How long after the patent is granted before others can
>freely use the patent?  Does anyone know when this particular patent was 
>granted and when it runs out? 

U.S. patents provide 17 years protection for the holder of the patent.  It
may very well be different in other countries.  As has been pointed out,
if you can show "prior art" the patent may not stand up against a challenge.

Many computer manufacturers don't use the patents they hold on clever ideas
to prevent others from using the ideas; rather they use these patents as
bargaining chips when negotiating cross licensing agreements.  Essentially
all manufacturers of 370 plug compatbile machines have such agreements with
IBM; it's only a question of who pays whom how much in addition.
 
A patent came to our attention recently:  it looks very much like a "branch
history table" but was issued about 15 years AFTER what folks around here 
consider "the BHT patent".  The company that holds the patent almost certainly
has a cross license agreement with IBM, so it seems unlikely that any one will
ever figure out whether they are really the same or not.
 
Whilst we're asking questions, how old is the SUID bit patent?  Anybody know
the number?

-- 

	Josh Knight, IBM T.J. Watson Research
 josh@ibm.com, josh@yktvmh.bitnet,  ...!philabs!polaris!josh