Edited by author 01-19-2003 02:15 AM
I'm afraid there is already prior art for Prof. Bernstein's "Internet Bus Locators". It has been done for King County (Washington)'s Metro Transit System since 2001, maybe even earlier. If I can find a link, I'll post it.

P.S. Found it.

From his page:

Specific questions:

1. Does this idea constitute ``intellectual property'' under the University of Illinois Policy on Patents and Copyrights? Please explain your answer in enough detail that it can be independently verified.

2. As I recall, I came up with this idea in the shower one morning. Am I correct in concluding that, under the University of Illinois Policy on Patents and Copyrights, the university does not own this idea? Please explain your answer.

3. Am I correct in concluding that I am under no obligation to report this idea to the university? Are there any relevant factors here other than the location in which I came up with the idea? Please explain your answer.

4. Whether or not disclosure is required, I could assign patent rights in this idea to the university. Is UIC interested in this idea? How does your office make these decisions?

There's prior art for the auto-clock setting on cellular networks too. It's a standard feature of GSM. Not many networks bother to switch it on though.

I believe that the point of this exercise (and forgive me if I'm missing your irony) is that he is questioning, through the creation of silly inventions, the validity of the university's intellectual ownership policies, in which they attempt to own ideas he comes up with in the showers, etc. I don't believe the actual inventions are important, per se, except as demonstrations of this point.

I may be wrong.

Any policy can be made to look silly if you tread on the lines. What constitutes assault? Hitting someone with a baseball bat? How about a toothpick? How about a piece of sawdust?

If Bernstein doesn't like his employer's policies he shouldn't work there. If he has a good faith question about what kinds of patents the policy applies to then he should meet with the administrator and have an open-minded discussion instead of acting like an asshole.

Edited by author 01-20-2003 01:24 AM
Cypherpunks, I kinda wonder about you at times. And more than that, I wonder whether you think every professor should quit a tenured or tenure-track position every time he or she disagrees with a policy. Sometimes a policy should be changed, not endured or escaped. Perhaps Professor Bernstein has already gotten a letter or two about inventions done on university time, or has watched a colleague go through intellectual-property hell.

I used to work at a major West-Coast university (not as a professor), and at the time I got my HR orientation the topic of intellectual property came up. They assured me that practically any idea I had at any time while working for the university belonged to them.

You're right. You know, I still am trying to figure out why I

a) whine so much

b) do it behind a generic psuedonym.

I guess I'm just a kind of troll.

<img src="http://www.webruler.com/artellephant/images/BillyGoatsCUsm.jpg">

Re: b), I don't think that anonymity equals trollhood. Call yourself what you like. But if your img src is any guide, I hope you at least get yourself dry-cleaned every once in a while.