Patents

* In response to “Granting of Broad Patent Stuns Multimedia Industry,” Nov. 17:

As an attorney with a patent law firm, I was amused with Stan Cornyn’s comment regarding the multimedia patent awarded to Compton’s New Media. Cornyn was credited with implying that patenting multimedia was as fruitless (my pun) an endeavor as “trying to patent a watermelon.” Dear Mr. Cornyn, you can patent a watermelon (provided it was produced asexually)! Indeed, subject matter much more complex than watermelons can be, and is, patented every day.

Although it is always a shock to realize that one’s technology has progressed to the point where it can be monopolized by others through a patent, I agree with Norman Bastins, Compton’s general manager, that “it’s time for the (multimedia) industry to grow up.”

Regardless of whether Compton’s patent is ultimately held to be invalid, part of growing up is knowing the value of what you have and how to protect it. The growing pains now being felt in multimedia have most recently been suffered in the field of biotechnology. It is, therefore, no surprise that the multimedia industry, another child of new technology, is now having similar pains.

ELIZABETH SWANSON

Los Angeles