April 7, 2005
(source: http://www.fleabyte.org/#fo-64) Sony Corp. has applied for patent for a prophetic invention, i.e. an invention that has yet to be made to work. It describes a means for using ultrasound to transmit data directly into human brains. The benevolent aspect is that it may give those who are blind or deaf a chance to see or hear. There appears to be some confusion surrounding the patent. CNN claims the patent has been granted, but a look at the U.S. Patent Office's site shows it to be an application carrying the date December 30, 2004, but which was filed April 12, 2004. The number is 20040267118 , the inventor's name is Thomas Dawson, and the title "Scanning method for applying ultrasonic acoustic data to the human neural cortex." The device would modify neural firing patterns in targeted parts of the brain and thereby create sensory experiences ranging from moving images to tastes and sounds. The New Scientist reports a Sony spokesperson as saying that this particular patent is "based on an inspiration that this may someday be the direction that technology will take us." According to the magazine, "Sony first submitted a patent application for the ultrasound method in 2000, which was granted in March 2003. Since then Sony has filed a series of continuations, most recently in December 2004 (US 2004/267118)." From BioMedPatent.com we learn that US patent law recognizes that one may conceive an invention but that one also then need to reduce the invention to practice ( i.e. , make a "working example"). Recognizing that not everyone has unlimited resources, provision is made for the "working example" to be a prophetic best guess of how to perform the experiment or put together the machine, as well as, what results would be obtained in the process. Unfortunately, if a prophetic example is defective in some unforeseen manner, one may either lose the bid for a patent in the patent office, or the patent may be found invalid in Court. If a competitor actually reduces the same invention to practice shortly after a prophetic patent application has been filed, the competitor may prevail in the patenting process. Citizens ought to be quite concerned about two aspects of this development: (1) the granting of "prophetic patents" and (2) the granting of patents that permit brain control. Please, refer to our earlier article, "The connected brain or Das Wohltemperierte Klavier" of October 25, 1999. [ HvE ] download from site on Dec 11, 2006