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Date: 28 May 2008 06:44:15
From:
Subject: Gothic Chess - Patent expired?
Dear All,

I'm interested in the opinion of anyone here who has knowledge of US
patent laws.

I'm trying to find out if the chess variant "Gothic Chess" is still
patented. If was originally patented in November 2002 by Ed Trice.
However he failed to pay the maintenance fees that were due 3 to 3.5
years after this and as far as I can tell this means that the patent
has expired:

http://www.latepatents.net/6481716.htm
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/comp/fin/status.htm

I'm loathe to infringe on this patent if it might be awarded back to
Trice on appeal. Can anyone reassure me (or otherwise!) that it is too
late for this to happen?

Thanks very much,

Jon D'Souza-Eva
http://www.labatechess.com/61_games.html - Bobby Fischer's "My 61
Memorable Games"




 
Date: 02 Jun 2008 03:52:35
From:
Subject: Re: Gothic Chess - Patent expired?
On 29 May, 11:22, David Richerby <[email protected] >
wrote:
> <[email protected]> wrote:
> > I'm loathe to infringe on this patent if it might be awarded back to
> > Trice on appeal. Can anyone reassure me (or otherwise!) that it is too
> > late for this to happen?
>
> Um. A patent lawyer? Taking legal advice from Usenet would be
> foolish in the extreme.

Thanks very much, I was afraid asking a proper patent attorney would
cost too much money, but I found one who is also a chess player and he
gave me his opinion for free:

"Patents can be revived for upto 12 months past their expiration for
failure for paying their maintenance fees. So it looks like it's too
long expired to be revived. However any copyright would still be
effective."

However Trice claims that he sold the patent for $3,000,000 in 2005!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=54I8wqm2NeE&feature=related
The reply from "spqraugustus" reads:

"Ed Trice sold the patent for over $3,000,000 to the same group who
financed the Bobby Fischer vs. Anatoly Karpov match schedule for
2006/2007. He did not "lose" it at all. I am with the Law Firm that
did the patent reassignment in November of 2005."


 
Date: 29 May 2008 17:09:52
From: Quadibloc
Subject: Re: Gothic Chess - Patent expired?
On May 28, 7:44 am, [email protected] wrote:

> I'm loathe to infringe on this patent if it might be awarded back to
> Trice on appeal.

The game may be protected by trademark or even copyright law, even
without a patent.

Given the existence of better forms of Chess with the same complement
of pieces by Capablanca, Bird, and even Carrera, however, I wonder why
anyone would wish to bother...

except, of course, for the sake of having Capablanca Random Chess.

John Savard


 
Date: 29 May 2008 11:22:31
From: David Richerby
Subject: Re: Gothic Chess - Patent expired?
<[email protected] > wrote:
> I'm loathe to infringe on this patent if it might be awarded back to
> Trice on appeal. Can anyone reassure me (or otherwise!) that it is too
> late for this to happen?

Um. A patent lawyer? Taking legal advice from Usenet would be
foolish in the extreme.


Dave.

--
David Richerby Poisonous Artificial Sushi (TM):
www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~davidr/ it's like a raw fish that's made of
plastic but it'll kill you in seconds!