[devmach]

Ok, i'll play devil's advocate : Windcatcher works as same principle as evacuation slides on planes and even if it's about physics i think it's somehow ( design ? ) patented.

So, what about patents ? Is there any patent that product violate and may cause later any problem ?

[aredington]

Say it's the exact same mechanism as evacuation slides.

Patents in the U.S. since 1995 have had a term of 20 years, prior to 1995 it was a term of 17 years.

The slides were initially patented in 1956. In 1956 the U.S. patent term was 17 years; those patents expired in 1973.

But, let's suppose some advances were made and the specific valving mechanism was patented later. It would have had to have been invented and patented some time after 1995 to still be covered by a patent.

If it were patented any earlier, its term will have expired and the idea is now in the public domain, which means anyone can use the idea without paying anything.

[devmach]

Thanks for the clarification.

They should really add some info about patents and prior art on kickstarter page. And i hope , just to be sure , they applied for a patent their design.

[Zikes]

I'm willing to bet they began the process of patenting the design prior to putting videos of it on the internet.

[corresation]

Even if they did, applying for a patent doesn't indicate that you have a valid patent, nor does it provide any protection whatsoever for patents that came before.

[Zikes]

The implication was that as part of the patent application process, one would normally seek out prior art.

[dublinben]

As others have pointed out in this thread, existing products already use this mechanism. It would be very difficult to patent something that was very obviously invented already.

[jwr]

It always makes me sad when a new product arrives and people start worrying about patents. I can't believe there are people who still believe that patents encourage innovation.

[joonix]

Evacuation slides use pressurized gas canisters to inflate. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evacuation_slide