Polywell's current patent application.

Point out news stories, on the net or in mainstream media, related to polywell fusion.

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chrismb
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Polywell's current patent application.

Post by chrismb »

FYI: Thought I'd just check on the USPTO electronic portal to see if the latest application had been stopped by now (a non-final rejection letter was issued on 29th April and no reply had been sent within the 3 month permitted reply period).

Well, it looks like a reply has been made, on the 04th Sep., and is now awaiting the examiner's attention. I'll update if I see anything further.

KitemanSA
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Post by KitemanSA »

Thank you for the update.

chrismb
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Post by chrismb »

I've just been on the USPTO portal:

"NOTICE OF ABANDONMENT: Application 11/905,183, Applicant BUSSARD ET AL.

"Office of Applicant's Representative confirmed upon telephonic request by examiner on 10/30/2009 that according to file information the application has been abandoned."

Giorgio
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Post by Giorgio »

I was not expecting this....
I wonder what will be their strategy on regard to patents applications now.

DeltaV
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Post by DeltaV »

To quote Don Lancaster:

"nearly any involvement whatsoever with the patent system in any way, shape, or form, is virtually guaranteed to cause you a monumental long term loss of time, money, and sanity"

http://www.tinaja.com/patnt01.asp

Giorgio
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Post by Giorgio »

While the phrase above is true, I still do not understand what type of business model you can build in a country like USA where Intellectual Property is the base of 99% of the business plans.

Of course it can also be that the US Navy has simply decided to start to block any type of divulgation like they did in the past with Br. Bussard.

Just my 0.02 $....

chrismb
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Post by chrismb »

I still don't see how it got as far as it did on novelty, as it seemed to add little to the old [now expired] patent. If there is IPR to be patented, then it will be in the minutiae of getting this thing buzzing. Maybe there's some way to do it, e.g. with some suitable 'additions' to maintain ions in velocity space, but as it is..well, you'll know my concerns by now.

Giorgio
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Post by Giorgio »

To be honest I do share some of your concerns, yet I am confident that if the navy founded it it must be becouse they saw some result and some informations that at least gave to them the "impression" that it has some chances of work.

Or at least a bigger chance than the one we have to see the ITER work during our lifetime. :)

scareduck
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Post by scareduck »

chrismb wrote:I've just been on the USPTO portal:

"NOTICE OF ABANDONMENT: Application 11/905,183, Applicant BUSSARD ET AL.

"Office of Applicant's Representative confirmed upon telephonic request by examiner on 10/30/2009 that according to file information the application has been abandoned."
Wow.

If there's a more damning indictment of how little there really is here, I don't know what you would want. Abandoning the application for a patent? The only justification I could think of is they want to go in an entirely different direction. But getting a zillion patents these days is par for the course.

Dr. Nebel may want to bet with words online, but when it comes to paying for patent attorneys, all bets are off, it appears.

Update: ... or maybe Nebel doesn't want a patent in somebody else's name. So many alternate explanations. But I'm very skeptical that Polywell is an answer to anything now.

chrismb
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Post by chrismb »

scareduck wrote: Update: ... or maybe Nebel doesn't want a patent in somebody else's name. So many alternate explanations. But I'm very skeptical that Polywell is an answer to anything now.
The assignee (the entity to whom the patent rights are [/would have been] granted) was EMC2.

chrismb
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Post by chrismb »

As far as I can tell, there are no other patents pending connected with EMC2, so whatever they are doing, it does not appear to be covered by any intellectual property protection.

scareduck
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Post by scareduck »

chrismb wrote:
scareduck wrote: Update: ... or maybe Nebel doesn't want a patent in somebody else's name. So many alternate explanations. But I'm very skeptical that Polywell is an answer to anything now.
The assignee (the entity to whom the patent rights are [/would have been] granted) was EMC2.
Yes, but from my dim memory of how these things work, the patent still has to be granted to an individual. Nevertheless, at this point it becomes splitting hairs. There's no patent! Unbelievable.

chrismb
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Post by chrismb »

Just doing a little background searching on USPTO; of the 11 US patents Bussard has been granted for fusion [are there more than one Robert W Bussard, VA, interested in fusion?], one is a cusp-like Polywell type (expired), one is a fusor-like ion acustic wave type (in force, assignee "QED, Inc."), and the other 9 are thermonuclear toroidal types of which 3* are still in force. The assignee in the toroidal patents appears to be a Dutch company, "FDX Patents Holding Company".

hmmmmm..... can someone remind me what Dr Bussard said about toroidal fusion devices??...


*
5,174,945 Controlled thermonuclear fusion power apparatus and method
5,049,350 Controlled thermonuclear fusion power apparatus and method
5,019,321 Modular fusion power apparatus using disposable core

scareduck
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Post by scareduck »

One other thing: no private investor would touch the Polywell without some minimal patents filed. Unless there are more patents forthcoming, this represents the end of venture funding for the Polywell.

MSimon
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Post by MSimon »

scareduck wrote:One other thing: no private investor would touch the Polywell without some minimal patents filed. Unless there are more patents forthcoming, this represents the end of venture funding for the Polywell.
It doesn't need venture funding. It has the US Navy. If it works the Navy will send out a quarter ton of specification and GE and Westinghouse and a consortium of subcontractors will bid on it. The Navy will pay for a five to twenty unit a year production line and the winner(s) of the bid will start selling units to private industry.
Engineering is the art of making what you want from what you can get at a profit.

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