Rebirth of America, this is my time

After checking the patent mentioned by Milohua and finding the crux of it, Barbara asked the staff of the Patent Office to get her a copy, and then asked Ethan and Evelin to follow her home.

Since it was meal time, Ethan made a special trip to McDonald's on the way back and packed three meals.

It's a pity that neither he nor Evelin have appetite and can't eat at all, and Barbara...

After returning home, she kept talking on the phone.

Although Ethan didn't lean over to listen, Barbara didn't mean to hide it either. And from some of her words, Ethan could also find that Barbara asked some questions from her friends at the Federal Patent Office, exchanged opinions with her colleagues, and even talked with her teacher. But none of these requests for help could make Ethan happy, because the cold and emotionless words and the rapid speed of the words were all proving one thing - they might, indeed, have violated the law.

"Oh! Sxxt!"

Thinking of this, Ethan bowed his body slightly and held his head in his hands, with a tangled look on his face.

Because he simply couldn't understand that the patent for the world's first commercial home game console was not a home game console, but a video game and training device?

What the hell is this!

If the patent is directed to home game consoles, it is just a monopoly in the industry. But when the patent is directed to video games, then who else in the world can bypass this patent?

Computer games?

Because the monitor isn't a standard TV?

Oh! Fxxk!

Ethan suddenly remembered that in his memory, in his previous life, after the collapse of Atari, the United States did have a long period of vacuum of game equipment, whether it was small game companies or large animal manufacturers. Video and EA all make computer games!

Is it possible...

‘Is it because of this patent? Let Mi Luohua be able to fish from the lake sustainably? ’

‘Special code! Can a patent choke an industry? ’

‘Fuck! How can there be such a perverted patent in the world! ’

"Oh! Fxxk! Are all those reviewers at the patent office eating shit?"

The more he thought about it, the more wrong he became. Ethan stood up suddenly, spread his hands, and gasped angrily: "How did this patent get approved?"

"Didn't they find it strange when they reviewed it?"

"Why does a patent that describes its own technology protect not the technology itself, but the visual channels through which the technology is displayed? Don't these people at the patent office think it's outrageous?"

When he said this, Ethan's lips were trembling.

How angry!

no way! Who made this patent so outrageous?

"Oh Ethan - don't be angry - although this patent seems a bit excessive, from another perspective, this matter is actually very beneficial to us, isn't it?"

Looking at her red-faced brother, Evelin raised her right hand, patted his back continuously, and coaxed like a feather: "The stricter the patent protection law, the better it is for us, because After all, we have to do technology..."

"If you really want to do business, then we can't use other people's technology to run our own company, right?"

His sister’s words made Ethan restrain himself a lot. After taking a few deep breaths, he also focused his attention on Evelin, “But now, if there is no problem with this patent, then we are really infringing it. ——”

His bright eyes were filled with worry.

Although Evelin knew that what Ethan said was probably correct and the matter was probably settled, she still smiled and said: "Oh Ethan, don't be so pessimistic, things haven't reached that point yet, right? What if Ba Bara…”

However, before she could finish her words, Barbara's voice appeared——

"Evelin, Ethan is right, now we should prepare for the worst."

As soon as these words came out, the two people immediately turned their attention to Barbara.

She just hung up the phone and went straight to the sofa and sat down hard.

The sudden descent of the body seems to be getting rid of the fatigue on the body, while the back leaning upward is telling the helplessness in the heart.

The act of leaning back and closing her eyes was to organize her words. When she looked at the two of them again, the smile on her face was also full of apology.

"First of all, I'm sorry, because before answering the copyright protection question of "Snake Game", I only studied the copyright issue of Mi Luohua's game and did not study the patent rights of their game console, so I asked you to give "Snake Game" "I applied for a provisional patent in an attempt to get you on board the new train of the copyright protection law that is about to be revised. From the situation at the time, there was no problem with this method, but from the current perspective... you might as well How about applying for copyright directly..."

These words made Ethan and Evelin's hearts sink.

Because they understood what Barbara meant.

If we had not applied for a provisional patent for "Snake Game" and had not handed over the display of the content of the "Snake Game" electronic arcade machine on the TV screen to the patent office, perhaps now, there would be no such trouble.

Can……

its not right!

Ethan frowned slightly, shook his head, and said: "Teacher Barbara, I don't think you need to take responsibility for us, because even if we directly register the copyright for "Snake Game" instead of applying for a temporary patent, the same goes for Mi Luohua. Can sue us."

"Because no matter how we protect our rights and interests, "Snake Game" is a game that requires a standard TV to display the game content. As long as we use a standard TV to sell it, it will constitute a legal infringement. .”

"At most, it will be a little more troublesome to provide evidence. It won't be as simple as it is now, right?"

Although Ethan was angry, his anger did not affect his thinking.

His words made Barbara stunned for a moment, then she smiled helplessly and nodded: "Yes."

"Ethan, you are right. As long as your game display involves generating, displaying, manipulating and using symbols or geometric figures on the TV screen, then you are infringing."

This result made Ethan sigh.

Evelin, on the other hand, looked puzzled, "But why?"

"Teacher Barbara, isn't this kind of patent too overbearing?"

"Anyone who understands technology should know that the symbols or geometric figures on standard TVs are generated in the same way! This is fixed by standard TVs!"

"And even if the reviewers don't understand technology, they should have watched TV programs, right? The signal transmission feedback from all TV stations is the same! If there are differences, how can standard TVs receive and play them?"

"When reviewing this patent, didn't the people at the patent office think there was a problem?"

Evelin's question made the helpless smile on Barbara's face even wider.

She stared at the girl for a long time, then moved her gaze to Ethan. After discovering that their eyes were filled with endless desire, she also shook her head and said, "Because those people in the patent office are all A bunch of idiots.”

"I should have told you before that Milohua had a disagreement with the people at the Copyright Office when he applied for copyright for the game, right?"

“But because the Copyright Office has expedited service, they didn’t follow through with the folks at the Copyright Office.”

"Then there was a situation where Nolan Bushnell plagiarized 'Pong' and they couldn't prosecute."

"In this case, you have already seen the stupidity of the Copyright Office, and now you are dealing with this patent, which is the stupidity of the Patent Office."

Barbara sighed, rubbing her eyebrows, and said: "I just called my friends at the Federal Patent Office and they told me that when Ralph Bell originally designed his 'brown box' , that is, when the predecessor of Mirova Odyssey was used to register a patent, the patent examiners did not know how to define this item at all.”

“After reading the application submitted by Professor Ralph Bell, they believed that this technology of displaying various images on a television cannot be patented, because television already has this function, and television programs are based on this function. use."

"This result made Ralph Bell very angry."

"Then what he did was he simply commandeered the patent office's TV and showed them his design."

"Then the entire patent office was fascinated by his video games."

"They found this presentation interesting. It was different from previous TV shows because it added a manipulation function, so this allowed the 'Brown Box' to pass the review."

"When it came to characterizing the patent, they had another difficulty, because Ralph Bell said that the production of a separate circuit board is very simple, as long as an engineer can imitate it, so the protection of a separate circuit diagram has no meaning, so the patent office The censors communicated with Ralph Bell. When they learned that the 'Brown Box' could only display the game through the TV screen, they would 'generate, display, manipulate and use symbols on the TV screen. or geometric figures' this clause incorporates patent protection."

"In their view, the four standards of 'generation, display, manipulation and use' have been very specific, but no one thought that the prefix of TV screen was the biggest problem!"

"Because there were no video games on the market at that time! There were no arcades! There were no home consoles!"

Having said this, Barbara slowly closed her eyes again.

When this kind of prefix that strangles the industry appears, even if she is a mage, she can't get around it!

As for filing a lawsuit, applying for a patent is invalid?

forget it!

Because this stupid behavior was done by the patent office itself!

If the court decides that they are wrong, what will other companies do in the future if they feel that the patent office is not strict in their review?

Sue again? No more judgment?

Then the U.S. courts should stop doing other things. They are watching companies litigating for patents every day!

After all, America is a maritime law system, and citing precedents is equivalent to giving judges certain legislative powers!

And even if this silly registration was not caused by the patent office itself, but by Ralph Bell's over-application...

In fact, the court will not rule that the patent is invalid.

Because Ralph Bell was in the military industry.

From the Apollo program to military submarines, many patents were developed by him!

This kind of scientist is a national treasure of the United States!

Not to mention over-applying for a civilian patent, even if he really wants to make money from this, everyone will turn a blind eye!

Note: ①The birth process of the patent for video games and training devices was said by Ralph Bell himself. In his memoir "The Birth of Video Games" published in 2005, he also mentioned the patent office's refusal to register at the beginning and the incident process. The U.S. Patent Office and the Copyright Office are actually a pair of twins. It’s just that companies don’t believe them. They do too many outrageous things.