If you comment on a post, it might affect the outcome of a patent application.
Whenever I post about a recently granted patent, comments inevitably turn to “that invention is nothing new” or “that’s a junk patent”.
I’m sure that at some point today there will be comments to that effect on my post about GoDaddy getting two appraisals for domain appraisals.
When an inventor applies for a patent, they make a bunch of claims. Some of these claims will surely be thrown out during the process, but it’s a starting point. The patent examiner pushes back and challenges some of the claims. What you often see published was not what the inventor originally submitted.
That’s where you come in.
Your comments on blog posts, your forum posts, your articles — they are often considered by patent examiners and shape the final form of a patent.
Consider the two GoDaddy patents I wrote about earlier today.
The patent examiner pushed back on some of the claims and cited Domain Name Wire (pdf) in doing so.
Alas, it was not my superior domain intelligence and knowledge that caught the eye of the examiner. Instead, it was a single comment that Stephen Douglas posted on my 2009 article “Why the Live Domain Auction Bombed (and Why I’m Not Surprised)”. Douglas commented about parts of speech and the value of domain names.
Remember Chef Patrick? He’s long gone from the domain name industry, but his 2008 post “What Makes A Premium Domain Name” was cited by the examiner. The patent examiner also referred to the Estibot.com user guide.
Your opinion carries weight and can even determine the outcome of a patent application. That’s pretty cool.
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