From: Ken Clements (Ken@Innovation-On-Demand.com)
Date: Mon Dec 27 1999 - 20:36:00 MST
"Ross A. Finlayson" wrote:
> Questions about patents: say you or I patent a process A->B. Along comes another,
> filing a claim for B->C, B not otherwise reachable except through the previously
> patented process. Is the newcomer beholden to allow fair access to patent 2, and vice
> versa? What obligations fall on the newcomer? When a patent refers another patent,
> what is that chain of ownership, responsibility, and right to access and use?
>
In the case above, the inventor of B->C must obtain a license to use the A->B process. A
patent does not grant any right to make your invention, only to go to court to stop someone
else from doing what is claimed. It is often the case that inventors will read newly issued
patents and file improvements to these. The improvements cannot be used without license
from the base patent, but the holder of the base patent needs to get a license to use the
improvements. Thus, these third party improvement patents are intended to be sold or cross
licensed to the original patent holders.
-Ken
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