Fw: Patent Notice

[Bill Ballard]

At 8:38 PM -0500 10/29/02, Erwinspiano@aol.com wrote:
>  I wonder as well. With all due respect to Dave S. these 
>"Stanwwoodized" ideas are not exactly new or completely original and 
>much similar material has been out there but the information has 
>certainly been organized and formulated into a cohesive format by Mr 
>Stanwood. I suspect if you simply refrain from usage of terms to 
>close to the patent material all is well. But how far can Dave S. 
>take the argument in reality. To court? Dunn no.
>       DAle Erwin

I know it could seem a shock to us piano technicians that there might 
be something in this business which is patentable, considering the 
wealth of knowledge of our forbears, as well as many on this list. It 
would be interesting to catalog the appearances of these ideas. In 
the 1969(?) PTG Piano Action Handbook, the editor mentions the notion 
of a friction figure derivable from down and up weights. I'd love to 
explore other peoples earlier thinking on weighing action parts as 
felt in the leverage.

I remember only scattered "rules of thumb" before David figured out 
that weight could be used to measure action leverage.  I am eager to 
find out about earlier work. There was a picture on a Schimmel 
brochure which fascinated David. It was a key mounted on a pivot and 
being weighed, as David does FWs. He asked the president of the 
company about that , and was told it was just something put together 
for the photo shoot.

At 6:28 AM -0800 10/29/02, Jason Kanter wrote:
>First I thought this was a joke. Then I remembered that my own 
>intellectual property attorney told me that under the new 
>patent/copyright law, Newton could patent Gravity. Who'se got dibs 
>on pi?

And I'm sure that the current patent laws allow for the patenting of 
pi. Presumably, specified in the document to 2 decimal points and 
having a domain of anything in subsequent decimal points which round 
off to specified value for pi. Not only can you patent an irrational 
number, but you can also patent one of the major strains of white 
rice and all its descendants. (I believe Monsanto did that for an 
asian rice, but any patent attorney should know this.)

>Seriously, David, can you prevent people from using a formula? 
>Sounds like an attempt at thought control to me.
>..........

There's not going to be any legal action because the market it too 
small. (My personal assessment but don't ask me to bet on it.) Anyone 
who has worked with David knows the long road covered in his 
development of the Metrology.  I think David has earned it. If 
someone else put together such a nice system of measurement and 
adjustment as David, they'll certainly have earned it also.

I'd love to be filled in.

Bill Ballard RPT
NH Chapter, P.T.G.

"All God's Children got Rhythm"
     ...........Ivy Anderson in "A Day at the Races"
+++++++++++++++++++++