Re: defensive publishing for medical ideas?

[Ben Pfaff]

John Hasler <john@dhh.gt.org> writes:

> And you might not, and for good reason.  Publication needs to be somewhere
> such that the article is likely to be seen by a diligent practitioner of
> the art.  Otherwise you could protect trade secrets from being
> independently invented and patented by publishing them in a classified ad
> in a local village newspaper in Outer Slobovia.

Nonsense.  Here is what U.S. patent law says:

    35 U.S.C. 102 Conditions for patentability; nov
                    elty and loss of right to patent.
       A person shall be entitled to a patent unless --
        (a) the invention was known or used by others
    in this country, or patented or described in a printed
    publication in this or a foreign country, before the
    invention thereof by the applicant for patent, or
        (b) the invention was patented or described in a
    printed publication in this or a foreign country or in
    public use or on sale in this country, more than one
    year prior to the date of the application for patent in
    the United States, or

You'll have to point out to me where it says "likely to be seen
by a diligent practitioner of the art" or anything similar.  It
doesn't even have to be in the United States: publication in
Outer Slobovia is just fine.
-- 
"Debian for hackers, Red Hat for suits, Slackware for loons."
--CmdrTaco <URL:http://slashdot.org/articles/99/03/22/0928207.shtml>