[ODE] Quickstep and patents

[Patrick Enoch]

Hi,

I too, am Mathematician. It seems my question still remains: is it a  
patent on "the sum of all parts" or "all parts individually"??
(If BMW has a patent on their engine, they dont hold patents on every  
single screw. Someone brought the car idea up.)


I am not a lawyer (see above), but doesnt the right to sue someone  
vanish after a while, IF you know other ppl are using your patent  
"illegally"? So it becomes "customary law"? Agaia knows about ODE for  
quite a while and they didnt do anything against it.


I feel this might become very serious. Anyone knows a good lawyer? We  
have one for our software contracts, but that will cost...

How far does this patent reach, does it reach from the US to Europe?  
I have customers all over the world that use my product.

Patrick

On 07.06.2007, at 18:03, Klaus Backert wrote:

> Hello,
>
> Am 07.06.2007 um 16:13 schrieb Patrick Enoch:
>
>> Hello all,
>>
>> this is really funny!
>>
>>
>> How exactly do these patents work? Is only the *full interaction of
>> all parts* patented (e.g. SOR + Systemmatrix + Mass-matrix), or *all
>> single parts seperately*?
>>
>> For each single part, there should be thousands of references BEFORE
>> 2004. For example, Gauss-Seidel originates at least back to 1855
>> (that is when Gauss died), SOR is a modification also known a long  
>> time.
>>
>> Massmatrix should be covered in any "applied engineering" book
>> covering physical properties.
>>
>> "Jacobian" of joint-freedoms, OMG how old is that exactly? I think
>> the introduction of lambda is a smart move, but there should be a
>> reference for that, too. BTW, Mr. Jacobi died 1851.
>>
>> Best regards,
>> Patrick
>
> that is so true, Patrick, and let me add this:
>
> From 1980 on I worked for a big company as a mathematician. We  
> implemented a lot of "these" algorithms in a software package. At  
> that time several important players in the software market did the  
> same, including U.S. companies. Several of these software packages,  
> or derivatives of them, are still in use worldwide.
>
> Most, if not all, algorithms used by ODE are based on knowledge,  
> which is told as standard at the applied mathematician departments  
> of european universities. If I scan the websites of american and  
> canadian universities - I did that some time ago because of other  
> reasons -, then it looks just the same. The "prior knowledge"  
> resides in the textbooks, scripts and brains of many applied  
> mathematicians.
>
> For the european market, by the way, Ageia's supposed patent is  
> completely worthless, as far as I know.
>
> Cheers
> Klaus