
Chinese scientists row over long-sought protein that senses magnetism - ClintEhrlich
http://www.nature.com/news/chinese-scientists-row-over-long-sought-protein-that-senses-magnetism-1.18397
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_0ffh
"Zhang [...] says that he was justified in publishing the results because
Xie’s work was merely biochemical identification, whereas he had the idea of
using magnetic fields and the protein to control cells. Xie says that this
idea is obvious, and that he included it in a patent he applied for last
year."

You have to love that sentence:

"The idea was obvious - I included it in my patent application!"

~~~
rahimnathwani
Yes, he _included_ it in his patent application. He didn't say that the idea
was the _novel_ part of his patent application.

~~~
_0ffh
I get that, I can read, and I have taken special care to include that word in
my shortened version, as you can see.

It's still funny, though!

Wherefrom the need to even include obvious uses in a patent application? It
must obviously make some kind of difference if you do or don't! Think about
that.

~~~
dekhn
Have you ever filed a patent? Gone through the whole process from end to end?
Been involved with patent litigation? These things make huge differences.
Basically every patent that involves a computer in some way has a big section
at the beginning describing a computer and the obvious uses. THis is because
case law rules, and somebody once lost a patent case because they left out
some obvious thing.

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toufka
It is notable that the 'original author's' paper was still in review. And that
the review started, by a big-name journal, in Dec. 2014 - over 9 months ago.
While the newer paper was reviewed and published, by a no-name journal, in
under a week. The discrepancy is huge - professionally, and scientifically.
There is no reason a discovery needs a year in review - that is simply
laziness on the part of the big prestigious journal. And that they're now
being scooped by a competitor puts them in a poor light. This seems as much
about the various journals as it is about the authors, and the universities.

The new journal eLife is a wonderful happy medium - month-long high-quality
reviews for a high-quality paper.

~~~
motoboi
Someone must put his authority and prestige under test when reviewing a paper.
Good editors will prefer delay over errors. As such, people will sometimes put
some papers under microscope before signing them on.

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javajosh
The one that backs down can be the Chinese Walter White in a few years.

