1) Novel - (i.e. *new*) and
2) Non-obvious to someone practiced in the prior art.

If something else was suggested (in some document someplace… word of mouth doesn’t count) in a journal or magazine or was otherwise available one your or more prior to the date of the application for any invention, then that invention is not patentable.

Let’s examine this for a second:

I believe that before this was available there was a “necklace” maker on which it was based. The step from one to the other is predictable and trivial.

Patents cannot be used to patent every trivial improvement a programmer might create in the course of his or her job. The primskirt builder does sound like a fairly trivial improvement over the necklace maker that just about any programmer might think up.. no offense to anyone who thinks it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread. (smiles wryly)

Even if he does have a patent… how much money are we talking about here? Does he expect to make millions from a primskirt maker? I very much doubt it. Defending a patent these days is extremely costly. Additionally, recent supreme court rulings in the US make it much more difficult to prove infringement and place the burden of proving such infringement onto the hands of the patent holder.

In other words… he would bear the cost and the full brunt of bringing any patent suit against someone he threatened unless he could CONCLUSIVELY prove that there was infringement.

You should press him for a patent application number so that you can look it up yourself. All patent applications are on file with the USPTO and are available on their website for all to search. If he says he can’t give you one or is unwilling to give it to you, then you can bet he’s lying his ass off.

I’m not a lawyer, but I believe, given my experience with this kind of thing, that you have nothing to worry about.

Anony Mouse
“Patently insane…”

However, we did have a chat with Ged today, and looks like his feelings about my tool in mr. Martin’s interpretation were bent. While before knowing that I did have some doubts, but now I do not - and as a result I did create a distribution kit with split-tips tipjar - so the folks can redistribute the free tool, and if there are any tips to me, they will get half of it. This is yet another experiment that I do, and we see what comes out of it. :)

In other words, he’s bluffing.

I also read from you that he charges 5500L$ for his machine?! That’s almost a sexgen bed! ;)

Sounds like someone is simply out to make a buck using someone else’s ideas and hard work to me.

You know of course, Vint, that I invented a little Italian plummer called Dario, with a moustache and red overalls and a cap, back in 1982, for use in games. Patent is pending…