Add 'putting words into people's mouths' to the list of sins of this forum too. Good grief. I never said it was bad. I never said that a patent isn't better than an application. My comments weren't even about what a patent does - rather what it DOESN'T do.

Hope? Patents aren't about hope either. Do you really think Nanosys won't sue QTMM once they start selling product? They sued Nanoco too. It's their MO.

The simple fact is that a patent has no more bearing on your freedom to operate than the filing of a lawsuit means you're infringing.

Here is a direct quote from the USPTO:

Quote:

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The right conferred by the patent grant is, in the language of the statute and of the grant itself, “the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling” the invention in the United States or “importing” the invention into the United States. What is granted is not the right to make, use, offer for sale, sell or import, but the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling or importing the invention.

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