Quote:
Originally posted by bawdy
cant get a patent if there is prior art (someone else did before you)... it aint first come first served...
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Yeah thats what I had thought... though maybe were are mixing patent & trademark law here... I haven't a clue about either really.
But I thought you couldn't patent something that someone else did publicly before you ... no.. hmm thats not right. Cause someone could see someone's unpatented "paperclip" and think "oooh what a good invention!" then patent it and steal it.
Though, maybe this wouldn't be possible if it could be proven that the guy that got hte patent got the idea from the paperclip inventor?
Bah. Laws suck. Better to leave it up to the billions of attorneys out there.