David Gerard wrote:
Jonathan (dzonatas@dzonux.net) [060321 02:25]:
As I looked at slashdot.org today. I saw a message yesterday about the possible patent violation when a lack of B12 to homocysteine is mentioned. Here is the wikipedia article that follow the claim: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegan_nutrition The quote is simple: "Vitamin B12 destroys Homocysteine, a neurotoxin the body naturally produces." The patent would make it invalid to include such claim without royalty. The news article is entitled "The essay breaks the law" by Michael Crichton. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/19/opinion/19crichton.html?ex=1300424400&...
I see nothing more suitable for us to do than directly ignore any such patent.
Wondering if this is the same Crichton who holds US patent 6,785,977, a device for levelling pictures on a wall. :-)
Of course to the extent that the text of all US patents appear on the USPTO website http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html it would seem that it could be freely reprinted.
Ec