Re: [compost_tea] New Invention
Ted,
Would you mind snipping your quote to a reasonable amount when you
reply? I really don't need a copy of that entire patent for each
reply.
While I believe that it is a total BS patent, as are the majority of
those coming out of the USPTO lately, it is not as bad as you are
suggesting.
You can compare it to the corn gluten patent. It is not a patent on
the corn gluten (or worm castings) . It is more a patent on a
marketing method than anything else.
All the nurseries around here sell bags of corn gluten, just as feed
stores have for decades. you can feel free to spread it on your lawn
as a source of nitrogen, since that use is not patented. And it would
be remiss of the stores not to warn you about the effect that corn
gluten can have on pre-emergent seeds. They just cannot specifically
market it for its patented use.
The same goes for worm castings. You can mention its known uses, but
you cannot market for that specifc use.
Yeah, it is wacky, and it never should have been allowed, just as you
should not be able to patent naturally occuring plant varieties, or
business practices or software.
The good thing is that if the patent holder tries to expand his patent
too far, he can then lose the whole thing.
It also seems to me that showing prior art for the idea would not be
all that difficult. And if you are really bothered by it, start
working on trying to find some. Then you should have no trouble
getting one of the patent reform groups involved in putting in a
challenge.
Dave
On Sat, 6 Nov 2004 14:19:02 -0800, Ted Peterson <ted.peterson_at_tcsn.net> wrote:
>
> I'd love to see if this holds up in court. This would mean that Hahn could
> get a percentage from everyone using worm castings for anything. He could
> also sue the manufacturers of worm casting equipment for patent infringment
> because they are abetting a user in a crime. Finally, he could sue the
> worms for creating the castings in a kind of tort measure. In other words,
> the worms could be creating an attractive nuisance by making the castings
> and allowing anyone to use them. Anyone who grows worms for a living would
> have to give him a percentage of their income because the worms they sell
> may produce castings that may control fungi and that would be patent
> infringment.
>
> What a wonderful world we live in. Out where I live, we have a guy in a
> wheelchair who sues small restaurants and stores for not having
> stat-of-the-art wheelchair access. We have had five coffee shops close
> down. In a one month period, he filed 200+ lawsuits. Most of the
> businesses settled for $2000 to him for being inconvenienced. So in a
> month, he made a little under $200K. He then moved on to another town.
> Some of the businesses are fighting him and some simply closed their doors.
> Sounds like this Hahn guy is just such an idiot.
>
> Ted Peterson
> EW/SOE
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Received on Sat Nov 06 2004 - 21:18:41 EST
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: Tue Feb 07 2012 - 14:15:34 EST