Novelty is assessed against all publicly disclosed prior art, not just the stuff that has been patented.
If I publish content on a webpage that could be used as prior art later on assessing novelty
Comment on GTA 6 has patented a new locomotion system to make "highly dynamic and realistic animations"
bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 8 months agoTheir novel discovery: They figured out nobody had patented this yet
Mchugho@lemmy.world 8 months ago
PrefersAwkward@lemmy.world 8 months ago
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 that are already common practice.
bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 8 months ago
Software parents 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.
Mchugho@lemmy.world 8 months ago
They would only be able to get away with this if it had already been determined that they did indeed invent that thing. Many choose not to fight cease and desists when it would be in their best interest to counter claim.
Mchugho@lemmy.world 8 months ago
You can’t grant a patent for something that is already in the public domain at the time of filing, regardless of whether or not that thing is currently patent protected.