“US Patents Commissioner Todd Dickinson ordered the
re-examination of a patent held by Bruce Dickens for a technique
known as “windowing”, which we are told is a quick-and-dirty fix
for Y2K problems….”
“Inventor Dickens bought the patent from his employer, McDonnell
Douglas, which apparently had no use for it. Both he and the
company obviously believe that the technique is original, otherwise
they shouldn’t have bothered to register it, though some “experts”
beg to differ. Many believe there is heaps of prior art along the
same lines, and Dickens is simply mistaken when he claims to be the
original inventor.”
“Meanwhile, Dickens is so confident in the originality and
profit-making potential of his little trick that he formed a
company, Dickens2000, which has been turning out letters to large
companies seeking first-year royalty payments of a modest $25,000
for every $1 billion of annual revenue.“