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Xref: sserve comp.org.eff.talk:9518 misc.int-property:603 comp.unix.bsd:6737 Path: sserve!manuel.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!uunet!cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!virtualnews.nyu.edu!brnstnd From: brnstnd@nyu.edu (D. J. Bernstein) Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk,misc.int-property,alt.suit.att-bsdi,comp.unix.bsd Subject: Re: Patents: What they are. What they aren't. Other factors. Message-ID: <20483.Oct1800.37.5292@virtualnews.nyu.edu> Date: 18 Oct 92 00:37:52 GMT References: <1992Oct6.071314.16966@netcom.com> <11738.Oct1103.23.3892@virtualnews.nyu.edu> <1992Oct11.155430.5253@rwwa.COM> Organization: IR Lines: 16 In article <1992Oct11.155430.5253@rwwa.COM> witr@rwwa.com writes: > Call me a skeptic, but I'll bet it would be impossible, using your > definition of ``beneficial'' (whatever it is), to name *any* patent > that is (was) ``beneficial''. It appears that NordicTrack owns a patent on a flywheel mechanism. The mechanism was new at the time, and wasn't independently reinvented by several people. Apparently it isn't obvious---I described its effects to two engineers, who before seeing it were unable to figure out how those effects were achieved. Someone I spoke to at the company states that the patent *was* important when the company was starting up: it probably would not have been brought to market without the patent. Sorry, skeptic. ---Dan