Re:Facebook’s patents show a commitment to collecting person...
by mnw21cam on Tuesday June 26, 2018 @09:42AM
(#17400486)
A patent can be invalidated by identifying prior art. If you're being sued by a patent holder, a prior patent that you own that covers the technique would be a very good demonstration of prior art. I think that would be classified as a defensive use of a patent.
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Re:Facebook’s patents show a commitment to collecting person...
by beagle3 on Tuesday June 26, 2018 @04:16PM
(#17403652)
> I think that would be classified as a defensive use of a patent.
That makes no sense at all:
Cost of publishing in a newspaper, or arxiv, or any other verifyable source: $0.
Cost of getting a patent: $5K-$100K spent on patent editors, patent lawyers, maintenance fees, re-editing after feedback, etc.
It's been a long, long, time since I heard about anyone spending less than $20K for a granted patent. Paying $20K for something that you can get (essentially) for free, prior art defense, makes no sense at all.
Patents are an offensive legal measure; the only way the work for defence is in the "offence is the best defence" sense.