patenting geometry

hi guys, this may be of interest to all us.

http://www.nzarchitecture.com/blog/index.php/2011/08/29/patenting-g...

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Chris Tietjen on September 8, 2011 at 4:02pm

After reading the patent a couple of times I'm not quite getting what the unique part of it is. I'm just wondering if someone here could re-explain it in language that is more direct than the legal language pointing out the claims using some easily understood graphics.

Chris

Permalink Reply by Claudio on September 8, 2011 at 5:33pm

Hey this guys are complete nuts. this (PDF attached) is their paper on the patent thing please read the answer to this question: What if I use other software instead of EvoluteTools to produce the same results, do the patents still apply?

Hilarious

Come on evolute get real you have a very nice tool there.

Attachments:

evolutepatentwhitepaper.pdf, 3 MB

Permalink Reply by Steve Lewis on September 8, 2011 at 5:50pm

Hiarious indeed. I presume the planar strips also relates to the method of obtaining cutting patterns from a form-found doubly curved surface which has nothing to do with evolute. Im sure Dassault and Gehrey would find this interesting. They were doing it for years before Evolute. Same for ship building.

Permalink Reply by Evert Amador on September 21, 2011 at 2:15am

This makes me sick!

Permalink Reply by Luis Fraguada on September 21, 2011 at 2:47am

Beyond the geometry, I worry about the 'target audience' that this will affect. First of all, as so many of you have pointed out, the definitions are vague and broad. There is a lot of prior art. It would only be worth it to them to prosecute if there is a project underway with a real budget. Otherwise, why would they waste their time? It only serves as a scare tactic because litigation is expensive. Many patent cases are settled out of court when the entity holding the patent scares the entity infringing to pay up or face further legal costs pending the outcome of the judge's decision. Usually those who settle out of court do not have the financial backup to sustain a legal battle, and often times do not have the financial backup even to settle. I see this affecting many small - mid size studios. Maybe the big guns will just pay outwright, though I do not see why they would, seeing as they probably have the means to implement their own tools. ...just thinking out loud...

Permalink Reply by Jerrimo on September 23, 2011 at 2:23am

Hi guys,

maybe we should think about to set up an online petition, were offices and individuals can publicly singn up against this patent to rais awarness of this dangerous issue in architecture and the bad impact to our society. Such patents block innovation and weaken the power of the community. We also should raise the question how people doing such important research especially in the open source/access community are able to get enough money for there life and work.

Lets find some ways how to deal with this
best

Permalink Reply by Danny Boyes on March 2, 2012 at 2:57am

Sorry to dig this up again but I came across I nice video of Firefly Dinghy building in the Hamble UK from yesteryear that I thought would be good to share And this seemed an appropriate place :)