Starting today, the US has a ‘first to file’ patent system, so you can leave that prior art at the door - ▻http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/03/16/starting-today-the-us-has-a-first-to-file-patent-system-so-you-can-leave
Count on large firms to allocate a yearly budget for obnoxiously filing anything they can think about, just in case they can milk that later. Small firms and individuals can’t do that, so this system is essentially a great way to entrench major firms as patent trolls.
