How many pieces in a YJ and Maru 4x4?

[Bryan]

This is the patent for the V-Cubes (http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT7600756)

In the claims portion (last two pages of the PDF and really the only thing that can be enforced on a patent), it has in claims 6 and 7 information abut the number of pieces that are rotating in terms of an exact value.

Does anyone know how many pieces are in the Maru or YJ? If they're a different number, then this would indicate they they probably do not infringe on Verde's patent.

 

[masterofthebass]

That argument doesn't work. The main design of the cube is still a direct copy. This argument is like if someone had a patent for a 52 card deck of cards and someone added a Joker to pack. 52/53 cards are a still direct copy of the original. Either way, if you count the piece thats molded to be the same as if you glued 2 pieces to the core, they all have the same number of pieces.

 

[Bryan]

This argument is like if someone had a patent for a 52 card deck of cards and someone added a Joker to pack.

Actually, it's the perfect argument. If the patent is written so that having 53 cards is sufficient not to infringe on the patent, then it's perfectly fine. You have a poorly writtent patent if it's done that way.

The claims of the patents are what determines how much it protects. Now in the example of your card game, you can have two different types of claims.

*) A deck consisting of a plurality of cards.
*) A deck consisting of 52 cards.

Now the first type of claim is great for an inventor because it gives the patent holder broader protection.

The second claim is better for the patent lawyer because having narrower claims means the patent office screening will probably not reject claims as readily, but the patent doesn't have as much protection.

 

[Stefan]

If they're a different number, then this would indicate they they probably do not infringe on Verde's patent.

Yeah, number of pieces is one of the things I mentioned in the German forum once. Let me translate the others:

"the visible surfaces of said pieces being coloured or bearing shapes or letters or numbers"
So as long as there are no stickers on it yet...

"the generating angle φ1 is greater than 54,73561032°"
So if you use 54,73561031° ...

"cubic shape, with N=5 visible layers"
So if you pillow the 5x5x5...

Some guys talked about it in an intellectual property forum and were surprised how "narrow" and thus "limiting" the patent is, speculating that it might've been necessary in order to get it approved at all.

Does any of this mean that YJ or Maru 4x4 or other cubes violating the specifications (examples above) don't infringe the patent? I don't know. Do you? How much does a cube have to differ to be non-infringing? I don't know. Do you? Might also depend on the country, keep in mind there's no single global patent but several, for 51 countries. Maybe one country says it's ok while another says it's not. So in my opinion, the situation is unclear, and all claims I've seen of legality or illegality of differing cubes were just overconfident.