17 Dec
2003
17 Dec
'03
11:17 p.m.
Basically, what you do is use administrative tricks to delay the patent from being issued for as many years as possible -- sometimes decades -- while the idea becomes popular and gets incorporated into lots of products. Patent applications in the U.S. are kept secret by
FYI, there's a bill pending in the Senate that would change the term of a US patent from 17 years from grant to 20 years from filing. The specific intent is to deal with "submarine" patents. I understand it has already become quite controversial... Phil