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Re:Why Greet Apple's Swift 2.0 With Open Arms? by the_why_of_y on Thursday June 18, 2015 @03:26PM (#9741056)
No, that is only true for trademarks, not for patents or copyright.

And this confused comment is a good example why the FSF recommends against using the confusing term "intellectual property".

Re:Why Greet Apple's Swift 2.0 With Open Arms? by bitcrusher on Friday June 19, 2015 @10:46AM (#9745107)
No, that ALSO applies to patents, though the term is actually 6 years rather than the standard 3. Your 'confused' comment is a good example of why the FSF should encourage educating ones-self instead of trying to play semantic games with the english language.
Re:Why Greet Apple's Swift 2.0 With Open Arms? by the_why_of_y on Friday June 19, 2015 @01:47PM (#9746457)
I assume you are talking about this, which mentions a 6 year limit:

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/35/286

But that only limits the time period for which damages may be claimed - it does not forfeit the ability to claim damages altogether, which is what may happen with trademarks; that's a pretty significant difference.

Ok, that is an interesting aspect of US patent law I wasn't familiar with. But this doesn't look like a universal property of patents, more likely it's specific to the US?