Andr? Weidemann wrote: > Harald Milz wrote: > >> Huh - >> http://wiki.ffii.org/SwpatVcrEn >> >> Does that mean Intel now owns all digital video recording and storing >> techniques, as well as EPG??? What does that tell us about the clues >> of the >> European Patent Office? > > Nothing so far. Intel probaly was the first one to file this kind of > patent. > Take a look at the date when it was filed (2001-01-18). > This is still about one year after the initial revision of VDR... > So there is the "right of prior use". If VDR has been doing what ever > the patent claims to protect, then it will be difficult for Intel to > enforce the patent against VDR.(...I think). IANAL but afair only the US patent system has something like prior art. The EU patent system has a first come first serve way of giving away patents which means that they could try to sue whoever they want. See http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/mdd/v04/i01/html/patents.html Quote (talking about the US): Perhaps most important, we are a country with a ?first-to-invent? system. Our system awards the patent to the person(s) who invented the invention first, not to the one who filed the patent application first. However, almost all other countries follow a ?first-to-file? system, in which the inventors who file the application first are awarded the patent. kind regards Philip
