🚀 go-pugleaf

There was a posting regarding the disclosure of patent applications...

FYI...
In the United States, all pending patent applications are strictly
confidential.  If a patent is not issued, the applicant may elect to
treat the invention as a trade secret as an alternate form of
intellectual property protection.

A question I have regards when the HDCD patent applications were filed.

I am guessing that it had to be sometime after 10/91.  Applications can take
1-n years to prosecute, so it may be awhile before the information is public,
however, this does not prevent the inventor from praticing his/her invention.

Let me explain.....In the U.S. there is a one year statutory bar on
prior commercial use or sale that precludes granting of a patent.
In other words, you can't sell your invention more than a year before
filing a patent application or you're immediately out of luck.

But....once the application is filed, you can do whatever you want.
The only risk is that if the patent is not granted, your invention
becomes essentially public domain if you place the relevant
information in the public domain. (note:not very legally accurate)

Ok...the net...The issue of HDCD decoder silicon may already be in
progress with various chip houses, but....if the inventor waits until patents
are granted, they have a stronger hand in the negotiations.

This is therefore a business decision to be made by the inventor.
(I'm also pretty certain that any of these negotiations will not be
public).

Finally....Once the patent is granted, anyone making a silicon implementation
will need to make some arrangement with the patent owner or else they
become an infringer.


Note: This is a very broad and loose summary of relevant patent law.
Please see misc.legal.computing or comp.patents to pursue.