From: CRDGW2::CRDGW2::MRGATE::"SMTP::INFOODS.MIT.EDU::KLENSIN" 12-OCT-1989 17:51 To: MRGATE::"ARISIA::EVERHART" Subj: RE: Clyde and Watch Received: by INFOODS id <0000005B051@INFOODS.MIT.EDU> ; Thu, 12 Oct 89 17:27:42 EDT Date: Thu, 12 Oct 89 17:22:41 EDT From: John C Klensin Subject: RE: Clyde and Watch To: EVERHART@ARISIA.decnet X-Vms-Mail-To: EXOS%"EVERHART%ARISIA.decnet@crdgw1.ge.com" Message-Id: <891012172241.0000005B051@INFOODS.MIT.EDU> Glenn, Should you have the opportunity to get further involved in this, there were operational equivalents of what Watch does on CTSS by, say, 1964 or 5. The overworked patent examiners are getting more and more over their heads, as they try to make decisions about complex technology in an average of about 20 or 30 minutes a throw. The good news, although it requires lots of work, is that failure to understand and disclose prior art is grounds for invalidating a patent. I spent part of last year helping defend some folks who where being held up by a company who claimed they owned the right to collect data on portable computers (broadly construed) and transmit it by telephone line. They eventually went away (case was dismissed with prejudice), but what a waste of time! john klensin