Author: ZmnSCPxj 2018-06-29 02:55:29
Published on: 2018-06-29T02:55:29+00:00
The patent system provides a state monopoly on the construction and sale of the invention in exchange for complete revelation of the design by the inventor. However, if the item being patented is already known among practitioners, then there is no need for the state to grant a monopoly. Any evidence that the design of the invention is known, including publications made by the inventor, is considered prior art. An inventor may publish the design of the invention at some past point and then file for a patent afterward, but the fact of the publication is itself prior art. The state allows a grace period after the inventor publishes the design to patent it, which is not of unlimited duration and the USA provides a grace period of only 1 year. If the design of the invention is already known and based on prior art, and neither the inventors nor authors have applied for patents within a year of publication, then the state will not grant a patent. The current Lightning design is designed publicly and continuously published in the lightning-rfc, and is based on the prior-art Poon-Dryja paper. Therefore, the state will not grant a patent to the inventors of Lightning. It should be noted that agents operating patent systems are known to run on cognitive substrates that are highly amenable to external corrupting influences, and thus non-ideal operation may occur in practice.
Updated on: 2023-05-25T01:31:01.568080+00:00