At 03:58 AM 11/12/97 -0800, you wrote:
>    Obvious or not, this particular claim is likely to be invalidated
>    ONLY if Scenix can show that prior art existed (i.e., that an
>    earlier microprocessor used 12 or fewer I/O pins to load the
>    contents of 14-bit instruction words).  If you know of such prior
>    art, I'd love to hear about it.
>
>    -Andy

Andy,

I thought that to obtain or uphold a patent, one had only to prove that
their idea was not common knowledge and was not in common useage at the
time of the patent application. I didn't think that it mattered if there
was prior artwork which was only known to a few people. If this were the
case, most patents could be contested because most inventions are
"re-invented" by several people and only one or a few ultimately decice to
pursue it and get a patent.

Interestingly enough, I do know that it is possible for two patents to
overlap and therefore, unless the two patent owners work together, neither
can produce their idea.

Sean


Sean Breheny,KA3YXM
Electrical Engineering Student