From berryh@huey.udel.edu Tue Apr 26 19:42:42 MET DST 1994 Article: 65363 of sci.skeptic Path: cs.tu-berlin.de!zrz.TU-Berlin.DE!netmbx.de!Germany.EU.net!EU.net!howland.r eston.ans.net!darwin.sura.net!udel!huey.udel.edu!berryh From: berryh@huey.udel.edu (John "John" Berryhill) Newsgroups: sci.skeptic Subject: Nafta and Patents Re: Energy Machine of Joseph Newman Date: 4 Apr 1994 07:02:34 GMT Organization: little scraps of paper, mostly Lines: 28 Message-ID: <2noe2a$o9o@louie.udel.edu> References: <94091.011632SRK106@psuvm.psu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: huey.udel.edu Sigh. I don't know where this particular piece of folk wisdom came from, but if you learn nothing else from this post, please note: NAFTA DOES NOT have the effect of making Mexican patents enforceable in the US or vice versa. For reasons that I do not understand, a large number of people have gotten this impression. What happened is that the US agreed to make an exception for NAFTA signatories to the provisions of 35 USC section 104, which deals with the effect of foreign activities upon establishing a date of invention. Once in a long while during the prosecution of a patent application, it may become necessary to show an earlier date of conception or reduction to practice than the filing date of someone else's patent application. Section 104 prohibits an applicant from relying upon activities in a foreign country in order to establish a date of conception or diligent reduction to practice. Basically, for those familiar with the patent process, NAFTA included a provision that levels the playing field for Mexicans and Canadians in an interference proceeding. But NAFTA has nothing to do with the effect of issued national patents in other countries. -- John Berryhill