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Patent covers claims to invention and trade of the inventor's product
- which in this case would be that antenna. Right. And, the invention claimed must be novel (new), useful, and non-obvious to a skilled practitioner of the art. In theory, it has to actually work (otherwise it isn't "useful") but in most cases the Patent Office seems to have stopped requiring any sort of actual evidence on this point. Antenna designs which were originally published decades ago (and that seems to be most of them) cannot now be patented. Neither, in principle, can slight or trivial or obvious variations on older antennas. In either case, the law provides the author or inventor a means to pursue his loss of profit if these works are duplicated without license or permission. With few exceptions, Common Law would suggest that the practice of duplication by an individual for their own use (and not to produce for sale or distribution) is allowed. My understanding is that this is true to some extent for copyright (the "fair use" principle). I've been told that it is _not_ true for patented inventions. You're allowed to re-create the patented invention yourself in order to study it, or to figure out a different way of achieving the same goal (that is, a similar device which doesn't actually infringe on the patent). However, re-creating the patented invention for actual personal use is not allowed. In practice, of course, this usually goes undetected and nobody gives a hoot. Some patentholders have a practice of offering anyone who asks a license to manufacture one (or a few) of the devices, for their own use, with no royalty fee... but patentholders are _not_ required to do so, or to license the patent to anyone at all. Some years ago, the Bose corporation earned itself some bad blood in the audiophile community, by sending a stern letter to Speaker Builder magazine stating that a homebrew speaker-building article published therein used a design which Bose felt infringed on one of their patents (a "birdhouse" multi-chamber resonator design, I believe). They accused Speaker Builder of "contributory infringement" of the patent (i.e. encouraging others to infringe). This action was viewed by many of the magazine's readers as an example of a big, monied corporation bullying individuals. As far as legal advice goes, caveat reader. As I pointed out above, the law provides a means, the courts, not a guarantee. Further, it should come as no surprise that even lacking this, you can always be taken to court - even if you don't get out of bed for fear of being sued. A very good point! -- Dave Platt AE6EO Hosting the Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads! |
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