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February 2007
In this issue:
Dr. Ronald O. Brown tells us why an expert
witness must have an in-depth knowledge of predecessor technologies in addition to comprehensive knowledge concerning the state of the art of his specialty.
History of Technology - Critical IP Tool
by Ronald O. Brown
Loosely stated, patents are limited to useful, novel, or
unobvious items, so a defense is to demonstrate that the potentially offending part of a device is not useful, novel, or unobvious. Doing so requires an in-depth understanding of the technology in question as well as an equally good sense of the history of technology of the product in question. This point is often neglected.My own specialty -- voice, data, and image
telecommunications -- has over a century and a half of
history. During this time, many things have come full
circle - a circle that can be a strong line of defense.
Examples are:
· While time domain multiplexing replaced frequency domain multiplexing in the 1970s, a century ago the first multiplexers were time domain data (telegraph) multiplexers.
· While push button dialing was introduced by the Bell System about 45 years ago, some pre-1900 dial telephones had push buttons, not rotary dials.
· While voice recognition is becoming commonplace in today's cell phones, a user of an old magneto (crank)
telephone system could lift the receiver, crank the handle and say, "G'me Joe." The operator connected the call, usually knowing where Joe could be found in town!The point is that what at first appears to be useful, novel, and unobvious may not be. Technology experts must not only have an in-depth understanding of the technology of the day that is being questioned but also an equally good understanding of predecessor technologies. For example, I have used processes drawn from ancient magneto telephone
exchanges to prevail. On the other hand, if the patents
were worded so as to clearly require modern technologies instead of being overly broad so as to include old ones as well, I doubt I would not have prevailed.The bottom line is simple: Today's technology experts must have more than a comprehensive knowledge of today's technology. They must have an in-depth knowledge of predecessor technologies. Knowledge of only today's technology is a house without a foundation.
Dr. Brown is an Electrical Engineer
with an extensive background in voice, data and image telecommunication and is available to serve as an expert
consultant and witness through IPExperts.com as well in non-IP matters through Technical Assistance Bureau.
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