Noiz2
Sound Ninja
"say a new zeppelin idea, I can get a utility patent on that," That is a functional thing not an "idea". You can't patent the "idea" of a zeppelin but you can patent a new way to accomplish the same function, your patent would be on the way that you have done the function in a new way. Even if you could patent the "idea" of a zeppelin you would fail on the prior art. Now if you have the deep pockets you can apply for a patent you know you will never get and while that is litigating, which can take years, you have kind of protection in that nobody knows if you will actually be able to get some coverage and a company who is big enough to want to stay around for awhile may not take the chance since they would owe retroactive royalties. Which is why you see a lot of things labeled "patent pending".
But also to your point you can apply for a patent on anything, just as you can sue anybody for anything. You could sue Obama for not paying rent on your back room. If he doesn't send someone to defend himself you could actually win! Of course since your suit would be BS if he did send someone you would lose, but you can still sue.
Interesting side note. I knew a guy who had worked for Dymo. If you are old enough you remember Dymo Label makers, they WERE the market for a good while. And they had a patent. Since everything else was derivative the only thing they ended up being able to patent was the adhesive. So those label makers with the prominent "patent" number, that was what the patent was actually on. The device wasn't patentable.
BTW out of curiosity I looked at the fine print of the Mac OS install legalese and indeed it is copyrighted not patented.
I will grant you that it has gotten squishy in recent years as to what constitutes an idea VS what is patentable. But still generally even with soft "functions like software that is functionally part of a device, you only get to protect a specific way of doing something. You can't protect the idea of doing something.
So you could protect YOUR way of recording and transmitting but you cant protect the idea of recording and transmitting.
On the other hand I hear corporations are people now so?????
But also to your point you can apply for a patent on anything, just as you can sue anybody for anything. You could sue Obama for not paying rent on your back room. If he doesn't send someone to defend himself you could actually win! Of course since your suit would be BS if he did send someone you would lose, but you can still sue.
Interesting side note. I knew a guy who had worked for Dymo. If you are old enough you remember Dymo Label makers, they WERE the market for a good while. And they had a patent. Since everything else was derivative the only thing they ended up being able to patent was the adhesive. So those label makers with the prominent "patent" number, that was what the patent was actually on. The device wasn't patentable.
BTW out of curiosity I looked at the fine print of the Mac OS install legalese and indeed it is copyrighted not patented.
I will grant you that it has gotten squishy in recent years as to what constitutes an idea VS what is patentable. But still generally even with soft "functions like software that is functionally part of a device, you only get to protect a specific way of doing something. You can't protect the idea of doing something.
So you could protect YOUR way of recording and transmitting but you cant protect the idea of recording and transmitting.
On the other hand I hear corporations are people now so?????
