Patent Attorney's Counsel ... We Be FINE

[garfield at pilgrimhouse.com]

On Thu, 25 Jun 1998 14:46:50 -0400, goflo at pacbell.net wrote:

>Suffice it 
>to say that much of what we do here on the list IS illegal
>in other parts of the world.

Hey flo-dude. I know you didn't mean your post to be combatant nor
contradictory, but I STILL gotta say:

Non sequitor. We're talkin about a US patent we're looking at, first of
all. And we are NOT talking about copyright laws, but PATENT laws, which
only apply in the country they're issued.

I quote from the WIPO's documents: (World Intellectual Property
Organization):
	"The laws of a State relating to industrial property are generally 
	concerned only with acts accomplished or committed in the 
	State itself. Consequently, a PATENT, the registration of a mark or
	the registration of an industrial design is effective ONLY in the
	State where the government office effected the grant or the
	registration. It is NOT effective in other States. Therefore, if the
	owner of a patent, a trademark or a design desires protection in
	several States, such protection must be obtained in EACH of
	them separately." [and when they say "State", they're talking about
	a "country"].
Beyond that, several "unions" of countries that recognize each other's
patents have been established (for example, the Paris Union), but NONE
that have the effect of either extension, supercession, or overturning
of a US patent or US patent laws.

Copyright law is an entirely DIFFERENT issue (of which I'm aware, since
me family's a book publisher). Since '94/95 (the so-called TRIPS
agreement), when the International Copyright Accords were subscribed to
by just about every country, the copyright laws are now internationally
uniform, essentially. NOT so for Patent laws.

In summary:
	My country, 'tis of thee,
	Sweet land of Liberty, 
	Of thee I sing...

Gar (gushing patriotic-like)