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

[Bjorn Julin]

>    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.

Ah, i see!

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

thanks!

>    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.

That i agree on!

BJ
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