Joule Thief Goes Legit

Or only pursued by big corporations in the knowledge that the little guy can't afford to challenge them.

Cheers

Huh? What does a maintenance fee have to do with "the little guy" challenging a patent?

Bigcorp can afford to apply for lots of patents, and in the US, many will get through, worthless or not. They can also afford to maintain them. They have whole departments for this with a seemingly unlimited budget. They encourage employees to enter details of their inventions on-line and then the patent machine takes over.

It is expensive to challenge them, that is partly why they do it - it's an anti-competitive measure.

Cheers

None of which has *anything* to do with maintenance fees. You seem to have only one nerve, which when struck brings out the same anti-big-business jubberish.

There are some people you can't reason with. Don't try to explain it further. The rest of us get it.

You are making assumptions which fit your somewhat blinkered world view. I am not interested in debating this with you.

Cheers

That's where non-practicing entities (NPTs) come in. Since they're immune to counterassertion risk, they make very dangerous opponents in patent litigation. The "little guy" can sell some or all of his patent to one of them, and they worry about the lawsuits. Many IP law firms will also take cases on contingency, for a fee of about 30% of whatever is awarded. So nowadays there's actually a fairly active secondary market in patents that small inventors can access.

There are good and bad NPEs, of course, but they aren't all trolls by a lot.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

Debating what? You made a statement that made absolutely no sense and now won't/can't defend it. ...then run away claiming to be a victim. Good Grief, what a loser.

Then *you* explain what maintenance fees have to do with "little guys" challenging patents. Of course, you just want to hit me. Fine. You're just another loser.

No one said maintenance fees make it harder for the little guy to challenge a patent. Reread the original post. He said that maintenance fees are unimportant to the big guys who file "silly" patents (I assume that means patents that would not withstand a challenge) knowing that lots of smaller entities can't afford to challenge them. These "silly" patents would not be enforced against large companies because they

I don't actually give a hoot about you. I often skip your posts because they are just full of vitriol with no point. There are any number of posters here who frequently argue beyond reason, but you seem to take a special delight in slinging insults and just being an ugly person.

I always knew you were illiterate. You just proved it. Again.

I suggest that you do, with the context he was answering. Perhaps if someone drew little animal pictures you could understand *something*.

That is *NOT* what he said.

You sure seem to. Obsessed, actually.

Of course you would think so. You're just another idiot that I've outed several times. Of course you don't read what you don't like.

A cheap, dollar store clock stopped the other day with the second hand stuck around 8, trying to get one more second up that hill and not making it. The oscillator was still running strong, but there just wasn't enough juice to lift the second hand. The battery was only at

Instead, I took the cover off the hands where the second hand didn't have a counterweight. After eying up the size and snipping a piece of black cable tie with a pointed end, I glued it to the second hand at the pivot. I put the same battery back in the clock and it ran just fine. It has been going another two days since then. I'll be curious to see how much more time I can get from this battery just because I balanced the second hand.

Don't bother. Google USPTO "Section-103 rejection" instead.