"Nicholas O. Lindan" wrote in message
ink.net...
"John" wrote:

These companies should be made to publish their older
information to
the web so that it would be accessible but instead their
taking their
technologies to their graves.

Ah ha! Exactly!

To keep manufacturing secrets from going to the grave the
Lord created
patents. The inventor has to tell all to get protection.
The inventor
would get no protection if the government [that's us]
could get away
with it and patents don't exist in communist countries.

It is a myth that the patent system is there to protect
the noble
inventor from the cruel world. There would be no secret
syrup for making Coke
if it had been patented.



Patents were intended to make technical developments
public after a time by allowing the inventor to have a
monopoly for a relatively short time. In the US its 17 years
from the date of issuance although there is some protection
as soon as a patent is applied for. Under some circumstances
current patents can run for 20 years.
One can also protect a process or mechanism as a trade
secret. There is a considerable body of law about trade
secrets so they are actually afforded considerable
protection. The decision as to whether to patent or not
depends on the expected life of an idea. For instance, in
the past, film manufacturers kept the exact details of
emulsion making extremely secret. About 40 years ago the
rapidity of the development of new techniques and methods
led them to patent such information because it was not
expected to be useful much beyond the patent life. It _is_
possible to get around a trade secret but not a patent.


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Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA