Roman Black wrote: >I think the US patent office have a bad habit of granting >patents that they have no legal right to, even things that >have already been done and are even on sale in other countries. >I suppose it is an attempt to bolster US commercial interests, >many times when there is a grey area and the patent would not >be granted on the UK or here in Australia someone in the US >can still patent it. The patent doesn't guarantee legal >ownership, it is just a record of a claim of ownership. Yes. I know some people from my country preferring to get US patents because it= is easier to accalim enough "news value" for the invention for it to be= granted in the US, and also cheaper... Also they said Asian copyanyproduct-companies are more afraid of US patents= than european patents, so they mean it will give some kind of protection= there too, although not explicitly patented in thoose countries. OTOH, US patents is more like a game as US patent office dont seem to do= their job in checking it, so you may loose you patent and/or pay $$ to US= lawyers to defend it... You get what you pay for. So... US companies that want real patents shall go to Europe? ;) Anyhow, getting a patent in one country only protects the invention there,= but after that you can begin the process of getting patent in other= countries based in the first one. I can say easily that Swedish patent= engineers don=B4t like US patents... PS I too have seen PCB coils in everything from old radios to latest DC/DC= conveters on from one to several layers. DS /Morgan -- http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! email listserv@mitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body