Re:Patent troll on the verge of winning 1% of iPhone revenue
by jackowayed on Saturday June 07, 2014 @08:34PM
(#7863584)
If it was developed for the CIA, why aren't the resulting patents owned by the government?
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:Patent troll on the verge of winning 1% of iPhone revenue
by lutorm on Saturday June 07, 2014 @10:23PM
(#7863788)
It's not clear if this particular "invention" was developed for CIA, but there are also different types of government contracts, some of which assign IP to the government, some of which do not.
Re:Patent troll on the verge of winning 1% of iPhone revenue
by brudgers on Saturday June 07, 2014 @10:36PM
(#7863806)
[IANAL]
My understanding is that the US Federal government cannot be sued for patent infringement. If correct, there would be no value for it to acquire patent rights and if the technology was to be controlled, classifying the design would be better than filing patents.
Re:Patent troll on the verge of winning 1% of iPhone revenue
by maaku on Sunday June 08, 2014 @01:25AM
(#7864045)
1) yes, you can sue the government or contractors fir patent infringement.
2) the government can issue secret patents
IANAL, but I was a government contractor for many years.
Re:Patent troll on the verge of winning 1% of iPhone revenue
by Peaker on Sunday June 08, 2014 @03:42AM
(#7864203)
Secret patents that can be accessed by anyone with a high-enough classification?
It seems to defeat the original purpose of patents, which was to promote openness of inventions rather than secrecy.