this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2023
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[–] bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 24 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Their novel discovery: They figured out nobody had patented this yet

[–] PrefersAwkward@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I think this would make it tough to enforce the patent if it's actually commonly used. If I were somehow granted a patent on tap dancing, its common usage by others before me would probably cause my patent to be invalidated if I then tried to sue a tap dancer.

Not a patent lawyer, but IIRC, US patent law had some protections for things (including non-patented) that are already common practice.

EDIT: Clarity

[–] bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Software patents get away with stupid shit like this all the time. Patent trolls claim they invented a software pattern and then sue everyone who uses it.