PUBPAT > Silvers Photomosaic Patent

Silvers Photomosaic Patent

In September 2008, PUBPAT filed a formal request with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to review a patent on photomosaics, which are large pictures made by using many smaller pictures. The patentee, Mr. Robert Silvers, has been aggressively asserting the patent against many individuals, small businesses, and even against an important open source software program (GIMP). In its filing, PUBPAT submitted prior art that the Patent Office was not aware of when reviewing the application that led to the issuance of the patent (U.S. Patent No. 6,137,498), described in detail how the prior art invalidates the vast majority of the claims of the patent and asked that those claims of the patent be revoked. In November 2008, the Patent Office granted PUBPAT's request to reexamine the Silvers Photomosaic patent and in June 2009, the Examiner assigned to the reexamination issued a rejection of the vast majority of the patent's claims. In February 2010, the Examiner issued a final rejection of the cast majority of the claims in the patent.