Factories

[Mark S. Miller]

At 05:38 AM 12/18/98 , shapj@us.ibm.com wrote:
>First, my memory suggests that all patents then in force were grandfathered
>to 20 years as a result of one or another of the international treaty
>signings.

[-] But I think it went from 17 from issue to 20 years from filing, 
so in this case, even if the patent were still valid, and even if it did
apply to technologies we care about, it would be a wash.  Of course, it's
much better that it's a non-issue!  And in several ways!!


>However, other works in development or in distribution during the window of
>expiration are exempted from the patent with high likelihood.  This
>includes EROS.

[?] When did this window occur?  
Confinement in E derives from confinement/discretion in Joule and Trusty
Scheme.  One or both of these earlier systems may also fall in this window.


MarkM wrote:
>> I asked Norm if the extra flexibility of hole checking, or discretion of
>> confinement, was ever useful in practice at KeyLogic or any of its
>> customers.  If I recall, the answer was no.

[-] Oops.  
I meant "discretion over confinement"


>This has been my experience as well.  Given this, I concluded several years
>ago that the patent could be circumvented by moving the hole checker to a
>different program.

[#] In E, I just got rid of the hole checker, period.  
Am I going to hit a problem I'm not currently expecting?


>Thank god they didn't think to patent sensory keys! (Actually, there is
>prior art on those).

[?] Please?

	Aren't intellectual property games fun?  (Arghh!!)
	--MarkM