Tim Attwood wrote:

> Why should some company be able to patent a discovered
> use of their product?  It'd be like Arm and Hammer wanting
> to patent baking soda toothpaste, or Kodak patenting family
> photo albums, or Ford patenting electric headlights for cars.

And all they need to do is to find a judge who can be persuaded to see 
things their way.

According to patent law, the way it used to be, the US patent office 
would grant patents only for physical devices, if they worked, and only 
the design of the device was covered by the patent.  If someone else 
found a different design that did the same thing, too bad.

Then the law was rewritten, and a judge issued a ruling interpreting 
that law to mean that an idea could be patented, and not a physical 
implementation of that idea.

Regards,
John

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