Ali,
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Again, it doesn't matter who is smarter. What does matter is who is the first to apply for a technical idea. Obviously, the originator is first, a plagiarist is always last, and this is the whole patent business about. When a patent is granted eventually, the originator has all rights to protect his intellectual property, as DEC is doing now. Even if you are so smart to invent the same idea but sometime later, it does not count, and you have to obtain a license.
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I would disagree with the bolded text above in your missive. The orginator is not always the first to apply for or receive a patent on technology. In fact there are cases where the originator could not afford the fees to apply for a patent.
A particular case of this is the inventor of the plaxitc tab for closing plastic bags (like on bread products) (As related to me by someone who knew the inventor). This individual could not afford to apply for a patent. He did however send himself, via registered mail, a copy of the invention. He entrusted this to a lawyer. He approached several businesses with his idea. All rejected him. One of these applied for & received a patent on this invention and produced the product. The inventor sued and won only because of his forsight is sending himself a copy of the invention. It was juged that he had the idea first based on the post mark.
As you can see from just this one example, the originator does not always get the patent. Granted, in most cases the originator does indeed have the patent and is protected. DEC will have to show (or perhaps Intel will) that the patent is good, that there was no prior art, etc.
I believe this will be hard to do. While in school working toward a BSCS, branch prediction was discussed in a class on microprocessor architecture. This class predates the date of the patent.
Regards,
dmg |
