OT: patenting an old year/date concept, to make millions

From: CLASSICCMP_at_trailing-edge.com <(CLASSICCMP_at_trailing-edge.com)>
Date: Fri Nov 12 19:57:37 1999

>OK, that just how the date was entered, not how it was stored internally,
>but it's not that different. I would claim this is certainly 'prior art'.
>And I doubt if this is the first time it was done either.

Just because it was done before doesn't mean that a patent won't
be granted, especially when it comes to patenting algorithms. Witness
the discussions in comp.arch earlier this year about IBM patenting
a well-known (has been in textbooks since the 1960's) algorithm for
converting multi-digit decimal numbers to binary.

Tim.
Received on Fri Nov 12 1999 - 19:57:37 GMT