Author: Praveen Baratam 2018-07-03 06:05:54
Published on: 2018-07-03T06:05:54+00:00
The patent system grants a state monopoly on the construction and sale of an invention in exchange for the inventor completely revealing the design. The concept of "prior art" applies to items that are already known among practitioners, thus there is no need for the state to grant a monopoly. Any evidence that the design of the invention is known is prior art, including publications made by the inventor. The grace period allows an inventor to publish the design of an invention and then file for a patent afterward, however, it is not of unlimited duration. The USA provides a grace period of 1 year only. As the current Lightning design is publicly designed and continuously published in the lightning-rfc, and is based on the prior-art Poon-Dryja paper, and neither Poon nor Dryja have applied for patents of the Lightning design within a year of publication of the Poon-Dryja paper, the state will not grant a patent to the inventors of Lightning. It should be noted that patent systems may not operate ideally due to external corrupting influences.
Updated on: 2023-05-25T01:30:09.675292+00:00