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A comment on Inventor says Google is patenting work he put in the public domain. Parent comment

Re:Inventor says Google is patenting work he put in the publ... by DennisP on Sunday June 10, 2018 @10:59AM (#17278393)
Just publishing prior art, in a way that proves when you did it, is sufficient. It can still be a problem if you're not aware your idea is being patented, so the patent office doesn't find your prior art, but that's not an issue here.

There are also services where you can register your prior art, which say the USPTO uses them when evaluating claims; I don't know how useful they are in practice.

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Re:Inventor says Google is patenting work he put in the publ... by fma on Sunday June 10, 2018 @11:18AM (#17278490)
We (USA) and are a first to patent country now.

https://techcrunch.com/2013/02/16/first-to-file-a-primer/

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Re:Inventor says Google is patenting work he put in the publ... by DennisP on Sunday June 10, 2018 @11:38AM (#17278597)
Yes but that just means if two inventors are working on something privately, the first to file gets priority, instead of the first to invent. Public prior art still invalidates the patent.
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Re:Inventor says Google is patenting work he put in the publ... by Nomentatus on Sunday June 10, 2018 @07:49PM (#17280774)
No, recent court decisions say public isn't enough - the invention has to have become fairly well known to practitioners of the art. Mere publication is nothing now.
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Re:Inventor says Google is patenting work he put in the publ... by DennisP on Sunday June 10, 2018 @08:50PM (#17280976)
Can you reference that? Recently I both consulted an attorney on this stuff, and did my own research, and that's the exactly opposite of what I've found.
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