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Google Tried to Patent My Work After a Job Interview

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Re: Google Tried to Patent My Work After a Job Interview

#411

Post by jkeat »

ilaksh wrote: post #132

Its another example of why these types of patents shouldn't even be allowed. There are always a large number of people who don't get credit and/or won't get paid. And then all of the people who have very similar ideas or maybe the same one who get blocked from bringing products to market. If the patent system somehow made it so people like the author of this post would actually make lots of money, that would be diffe…

Patent law includes a provision for situations like this - it’s called “derivation,” meaning basically that someone stole another person’s work and tried to patent it. The rightful inventor can initiate a proceeding at the patent office to invalidate the patent and get control of the work.

Re: Google Tried to Patent My Work After a Job Interview

#412

Post by ridgeguy »

Can't read the article (in the air, data constrained).

But if you have what you think is a patentable invention, file a provisional application before you interview. The USPTO gives you a filing receipt, which might help here. Let your interviewer know you can talk about your invention because you've got a patent pending. It costs $70 to file as a micro entity. See Nolo Press for a good resources on how to do it.

Re: Google Tried to Patent My Work After a Job Interview

#413

Post by marcosdumay »

armada651 wrote: post #182
jules wrote: post #134

If your country has "democratic" in the name it's probably not democratic. If your major has "science" in the name it's probably not science. If your company has "don't be evil" in its motto...

So Computer Science is Engineering?

Well, computer science is all about making stuff.

Re: Google Tried to Patent My Work After a Job Interview

#414

Post by marcosdumay »

scott_s wrote: post #352
dahart wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So Computer Science is Engineering? Mostly, yes, especially as an undergrad. A science forms and tests hypotheses, usually about natural phenomena. I only had a few classes in CS where we tested any hypotheses or performed any real experiments. Most of it was design and learn by rote, and not experimentation. Theoretic Computer Science is pretty sciencey but is testing things engineers built and often testing using…

I think you were unfortunately downvoted. I think you're mostly accurate, but I think all sciences at the undergrad level don't teach how to do science. They teach about science. Yes, I know that there are labs, but that's rarely the emphasis. A physics and chemistry student is mostly learning things that other people have discovered and figured out. It's not until the graduate level that someone actually starts doin…

A physics or chemistry student is learning about empiricism on lab courses, and about how other scientists came-out with their advances. But more importantly, they are mostly studying science itself, not how use it to create practical stuff.

Re: Google Tried to Patent My Work After a Job Interview

#415

Post by nybble41 »

virmundi wrote: post #328
velcrovan wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the Satanists actually have this mindset. Seems like I'm frequently seeing headlines about them doing good works and stuff.

Most Satanists do not believe in Satan. They do not worship the individual, directly, named Satan who is found in the Christian religion. Satanists look at Satan, especially Milton's Satan as a literary figure who embodies individualism and free thought. To that end, they are edgy Libertarians.

I ran across an interesting (fictional) variation of this viewpoint once where Satan was cast as the unsung hero of a resistance movement, fighting on behalf of human beings against a tyrannical God. Unfortunately, the resistance lost—and the "history" espoused by most major religions is basically just propaganda on behalf of the winning side. (IIRC this was mentioned offhand as background data for one character at some point in the Empire of Man series by David Weber & John Ringo.)

I have no personal stake in this one way or the other, but it's an interesting thought-experiment. If that version of events were true, would anyone be able to tell? Is it really any less plausible than the "official" version?

Re: Google Tried to Patent My Work After a Job Interview

#416

Post by 16bytes »

tvladeck wrote: post #377
16bytes wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disclaimer: I am a Google employee, who isn't listed as inventor on any patents here. I don't speak for Google and all the usual blah blah. In my experience outside of Google, typically how this works is that you will get a visit from product counsel asking if you have any patent-able work. It's not your job to ask if it's novel enough; that's the patent lawyers job. So they bug you for months while you are trying to…

“It’s a necessary evil” Company motto: “Don’t be evil” Do you notice the hypocrisy here?

My experience with patents extends beyond Google. I've never heard "It's a necessary evil" uttered anywhere here.

Aside from that, I'm not saying that there's not hypocrisy but I am saying that the real story is often more nuanced than first appearances.

Re: Google Tried to Patent My Work After a Job Interview

#417

Post by nybble41 »

monochromatic wrote: post #391
mdpopescu wrote: post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is so obviously wrong I have no idea how to continue.

What stops other people from taking your tangible property other than the threat of state action? Sure, there are plenty of people who would refrain from stealing anyway just because it’s morally wrong. But there are enough people who don’t care that the whole idea of property rights becomes meaningless in practice without some way of enforcing them.

> What stops other people from taking your tangible property other than the threat of state action?

Aside from morals, the threat of reciprocation, not by the state specifically but by the property owner who was harmed and anyone authorized to act on their behalf.

Unlike actual property, IP isn't based on reciprocation. The penalties for infringement go way beyond simply losing similar forms of IP.

Re: Google Tried to Patent My Work After a Job Interview

#418

Post by pigscantfly »

paul7986 wrote: post #91

I met/had a similar experience with Google ATAP in 2013 (was Motorala ATAP then; Google recently bought them) though not for a job interview but to discuss working together to build our tech SpeakerBlast into the Moto X. They asked if we ever thought about selling our technology to them before the meeting and at the meeting they baited us for how our tech worked saying we'd like to work with you tell us how it works.…

Thank you for sharing your experience and backing up the original post; this is something I will remember should the opportunity to work with anyone associated with ATAP come up.

Re: Google Tried to Patent My Work After a Job Interview

#419

Post by DonHopkins »

16bytes wrote: post #316
CalChris wrote: post #34

Regina Dugan is a former head of DARPA as well as ATAP. She has an impressive resume. Why would she do something like this? For a not particularly important patent, LED popup books? It seems bizarre. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regina_E._Dugan

Disclaimer: I am a Google employee, who isn't listed as inventor on any patents here. I don't speak for Google and all the usual blah blah. In my experience outside of Google, typically how this works is that you will get a visit from product counsel asking if you have any patent-able work. It's not your job to ask if it's novel enough; that's the patent lawyers job. So they bug you for months while you are trying to…

>"I have a bunch of work to do and need to get counsel off my back"

You would have had a hell of a lot more work to do if you'd actually come up with the ideas you patented yourself, instead of stealing somebody else's bunch of work they did.

Re: Google Tried to Patent My Work After a Job Interview

#420

Post by DonHopkins »

tvladeck wrote: post #377
16bytes wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disclaimer: I am a Google employee, who isn't listed as inventor on any patents here. I don't speak for Google and all the usual blah blah. In my experience outside of Google, typically how this works is that you will get a visit from product counsel asking if you have any patent-able work. It's not your job to ask if it's novel enough; that's the patent lawyers job. So they bug you for months while you are trying to…

“It’s a necessary evil” Company motto: “Don’t be evil” Do you notice the hypocrisy here?

"Don't JUST be evil. Be evil AND greedy."
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