Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[jtaggen]

Is this person trying to use a patent to steal Quidditch from Rowling? Is this legal?  I've tried to post this in several places and haven't gotten any answer.  I even tried to contact the person responsible and got no answer.

You have to go to paragraph 182 in the text and Figure 22 in the drawings to find  the discussion of Quidditch. But all the rest just seems to lead up to it. Especially when you get to paragraph 201 and Figure 27. 

The website is: https://sites.google.com/site/realandvr/ 

And a PDF of the drawings is at: https://sites.google.com/site/realandvr/home/vrtvdrawings/VRTV_drawings.pdf?attredirects=0 

How can he do this?  Or what exactly is he doing?

[bartmans]

Without knowing what Quidditch is, the only thing I see here is a (provisional) patent application. This means that the 'inventor' is trying to protect his 'invention' with a patent (at least, by filing the provisional application, I assume he is eventually trying to do that).

A patent will only be granted if the invention is new and non-obvious. Something that already exists and is publicly available can not be patented anymore. Thus, if your Quidditch iwas known and publicly avaialble at the moment of filing the application, there will be no way that it will be covered by the patent when granted.

Regards.

[klaviernista]

Without knowing what Quidditch is, the only thing I see here is a (provisional) patent application. This means that the 'inventor' is trying to protect his 'invention' with a patent (at least, by filing the provisional application, I assume he is eventually trying to do that).

A patent will only be granted if the invention is new and non-obvious. Something that already exists and is publicly available can not be patented anymore. Thus, if your Quidditch iwas known and publicly avaialble at the moment of filing the application, there will be no way that it will be covered by the patent when granted.

Bartmans:

Quidditch is a game that is played by the characters in J.K. Rowlings enormously famous Harry Potter books.  It is essentially a combination of lacross, rugby, and soccer/football, played by ~6 players ( per team) on flying brooms. 

I haven't read the patent application cited by the OP, but I am aware that some folks in the U.S. have actually tried to play Rowling's game (which relies heavily on magic) in real life.  The interesting question raised by the OP is whether Rowling's books would constitute prior art against the application in question. 

[JimIvey]

I just read the article very briefly.  It's a virtual reality system.  There's no attempt to patent Quidditch.  The only mention of Quidditch at all is "Or imagine ... an actual Quidditch™ game."  The invention is targeted at providing a realistic, virtual experience in playing fantastic games while wearing a head-mounted VR hood.

Nothing about that at all could ever stop J. K. Rowling from describing further Quidditch matches in books.

Regards.

[MYK]

Nothing about that at all could ever stop J. K. Rowling from describing further Quidditch matches in books.

Well, they could *try*.  But they'd probably get turned into toads.

[ECmax]

Nothing about that at all could ever stop J. K. Rowling from describing further Quidditch matches in books.

Nor could it prevent anyone from playing Quidditch in real life, assuming they could find a flying broom. On the other hand, if someone wanted to implement a virtual reality version of Quidditch using this guy's gaming system concept (which is what he is apparently hoping to patent), they would have to license the system from him, assuming a patent is ultimately granted.

[Yak]

And most likely, if the gaming system wanted to offer an official Quidditch tournament in a virtual Harry Potter world of wizardry; the game would have to license that from Rowling. 

Queue Elton John's - Circle Of Life