Reply to: RE>Patentability (was Graph isomorphism based PK cr) [disclaimer: I'm not an expert, but I've done some work with patents.] I believe the best way to ensure that something becomes unpatentable is to: 1. Publish it first. That reserves your right to file a patent if you want. No one else can patent your original work. 2. Don't file a patent within one year of publication. After one year you lose your right to file. No one else can file, because by then the invention is considered to be public knowledge (since it was published), so it would not satisfy the "original and novel" patentability test. If you keep the process a secret, someone else could independantly invent it and patent it. If you publish it before someone else files, it becomes public knowledge and is unpatentable except by the original inventor within one year of publication. Pierre -------------------------------------- Date: 5/25/94 9:21 AM To: Pierre Omidyar From: perry@imsi.com Harry Bartholomew says:

...

Jay Prime Positive says:

...

I only worry that if I publish, it could be patented. And I don't want the algorithm to end up in the hands of the software patent folks. Especially if they will be making money off it, and I wont.

If you publish, only you could patent it. There is only danger if you don't publish, in which case others can independently make the same discovery and patent it.

Perry

But you would then need to file within one year of the publication date I think.

His whole point was that he wanted to render the process unpatentable. Perry ------------------ RFC822 Header Follows ------------------