[Coco] Possible Coco patent?

[Frank Swygert]

If it makes you feel batter Ward, I get the same thing using Firefox under Windows XP. But it also give me a message about a bug report. I looked that up, and it's something about a Apple Quicktime plug-in that no longer works with Firefox, I think it's Quicktime v.3.1. I didn't think it worth the trouble to install anyway, as the bug report says it's a "solved" problem, or to install a newer version. If I really wanted to look at it I guess I could fire up IE... I *think* I left it on this system... may have expunged it...

A patent is granted to protect an inventors work, much like a copyright protects a writer. Otherwise, someone would go and spend a lot of money developing something, bring it out on the market, then have 20 others make similar copies without giving the guy a dime for his investment. It's limited to 17 years because that's about the life span of a good invention. After that time it can be copied, but the inventor should have had ample time to recoup his investment by then. 17 years sounds long, but a lot of people build on the idea of the original patent and introduce improved versions later, provided a better idea that's totally different hasn't come along. In this day and age it usually has, especially concerning electronics, but some things are pretty much the same as they were 20 years ago. Like the guy who patented AC systems using freon...

There are ideas that cost too much for an individual to develop, but a guy can sometimes do enough to get a patent on it. Then they go and try to interest big companies in the idea. They turn him away, wait for the patent to expire, then bring it out without paying the guy a dime. Sometimes they even use the patent filing as a basis for developing a product, but still have to wait for the patent to expire before introducing it. Now THAT is plain WRONG! I've heard of the above, but can't prove it. Might be an urban legend, but somehow I doubt it... 

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Date: Sun, 21 Sep 2008 20:28:17 +0000
From: wdg3rd at comcast.net


From: tlindner at macmess.org (tim lindner)

> > <wdg3rd at comcast.net> wrote:
> > 
>   
>> > > Requires a plugin unavailable to Firefox on Linux.  Doesn't surprise me much.
>>     
> > 
> > Are you refering to the fact the images of the patents are formatted as
> > TIFFs? Or something else?
>   

No bloody idea.  Firefox tells me I need a plugin to view it but can't find one.  I know I can view fax tiffs, but TIFF is a fairly flexible "standard".  No information is given as to what kind of files I'm trying to read, and I'm sure as hell not going to boot windoze to see if internet exploder will do the job.  Not for a government website.
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-- 
Frank Swygert
Publisher, "American Motors Cars" 
Magazine (AMC)
For all AMC enthusiasts
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