On Sun, 18 Mar 2007 16:52:21 GMT, "Jack"
wrote:

One reality that is being ignored here is that there are no "Patent Police"
and the word Illegal does not ever apply to patent infringement.
Reality is that if the patent holder (and only the patent holder) feels that
you have infringed on his patent and he is willing to spend the money for
the lawyers, then he can file a law suit against you to recover damages.
Certainly in this case, the probability of this occurring is near enough to
zero to be dismissed.

---
Please bottom post.

While there are no "Patent Police", 35 U.S.C. 271:

http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac..._U_S_C_271.htm

clearly spells out what is permissible and what isn't with regard to
infringement. What is allowed is legal and what isn't is illegal,
and while there are no criminal penalties for breaking that law,
civil action in the form of a lawsuit may be taken against the
infringer in a Federal court, with possibly disastrous consequences
resulting to the infringer.

While the probability of the OP being sued for infringement in this
case may be vanishingly small, the point isn't whether he'll be
"caught" or not, it's that if he chooses to copy the patent without
the patent owner's permission he'll be infringing the patent, which
he shouldn't, because it's theft of intellectual property and isn't
the right thing to do.


--
JF