

Iron Man's Suit Isn't Patented, It's A Trade Secret - brlewis
http://www.litigationandtrial.com/2010/05/articles/the-law/for-people/iron-mans-suit-isnt-patented-its-a-trade-secret-seriously/

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decode
"So, Tony Stark gets to choose: disclose the details of the invention in a
patent and correspondingly get superior civil (i.e. monetary) relief if
someone copies it, or try to keep the invention secret himself and hope that
criminal law dissuades people from stealing it."

This implies something that isn't true: that Tony Stark has to choose between
the two strategies. In reality, he could choose to patent parts of the Iron
Man suit and keep other parts trade secrets. As we software developers well
know, you are allowed to patent each individual innovation, not just the whole
of a product.

For example, Stark Industries could get multiple patents on the suit software.
They could get separate utility patents on the thrusters, the briefcase fold-
up design, and some of the suit-specific weapons. Additionally, they'd try to
get design patents on each of the suit designs. But, they could still keep the
power generation unit and the navigation software secret.

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MaxwellKennerly
That's a valid point. I discussed the suit as a single invention; Stark could
indeed patent parts of it while treating other parts as trade secrets.

The post has been updated to incorporate your comment.

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hassenben
Funny how we make different associations when watching movies.

I watched this movie and thought about BCI, computer vision and marvel comics.

A lawyer takes a look at it and sees patents, laws and court. I didn't even
pay attention to the part where Peppers was talking on the phone about
patents. To me, it was just some business blabla needed for the scene to make
her look busy.

However, I did pay close attention to how he manipulated his 3D, his home
interface, the jargon used, the software (no comments) etc.

Just interesting.

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btilly
I found most interesting the bit about the states secrets privilege. Every
time I encounter that I suspect that some bureaucrat somewhere is using it to
cover his ass, and the government is likely in the wrong. Certainly my reading
about the facts of the very first case where it was asserted, United States vs
Reynolds, says that this was the motivation.

See
[http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/Publications/Legal_Issues/the...](http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/Publications/Legal_Issues/therighttoknow-2.html)
for some of the background on that case.

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jodrellblank
_Yet one of Judy's childhood friends sensed something. Susan White felt there
was an "elephant in the closet" at Judy's house. She believed that the
elephant was Judy's father._

English must be so weird for non-native speakers.

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eru
You are getting used to it. The worst part is, that English's flexible grammar
makes puns easy. And then the English look down on people who actually have to
think of funny ideas to make a joke.

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jhancock
"In the film, Pepper Potts, played by Gwyneth Paltrow, demands action from
"patent attorneys," but Stark Industries obviously hadn't patented the
technology, or else the government would already have access to the
information needed to reproduce the armor."

When was the last time anyone here read a patent and thought "now I have all I
need to implement"?

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swernli
I think the tact that it is hardware might make it a different game. When
viewing patents on circuit design or specific hardware devices, there are
usually circuit diagrams and drawings. In general, hardware patents have a lot
more reproducable specifics internally than software patents.

~~~
eru
That probably says something about hardware vs software patents.

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notaddicted
For anyone who wants to learn more about the nature of IP: Patents, Trade
Secrets, Trademarks, Copyrights, Licensing, I recommend this book:
<http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596517960>.

I read it about 6 months ago, it will give you some clarity of thought about
these matters. And apart from the odd gratuitous computer metaphor it is quite
minimal -- you could probably use it as a reference if necessary.

