OT: on the edge of eternal life or the gras is greener on the other side!

[Don Tillman]

   From: "Bjorn Julin" <bnillson at hotmail.com>
   Date: Wed, 08 Nov 2000 21:32:34 GMT

   >Don:
   >For those who don't know... the "D" in the patent number indicates
   >that this is a "Design Patent", a patent for the non-functional aspect
   >or ornamentation of an item.

   ?

In the US there are two kinds of patents; "Utility Patents" that
describe how an invention works, and "Design Patents" that describe a
novel piece of decorative art on an object.  The former is what we
normally think of as a patent.

For details, see the USPTO (US Patent and Trademark Office) page:
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/doc/general/index.html

   US patent 4,191,932:
   Isnt the charge pump patented then?
   This is a patent of a charge pump VCO! or is it not?

Disclaimer: I am not a patent attorney; I've just read a lot of
patents.

But it looks to me like this is a patent for the general design of a
charge pump VCO and it is pretty much covered under prior art.  So my
guess is that this patent is useless and would never stand up in
court.

  -- Don

-- 
Don Tillman
Palo Alto, California, USA
don at till.com
http://www.till.com