Cosmos2 wrote:
I'm not sure we can take all of the Airbus patents seriously. They also have this one for vertical lifting of airplanes...
Patents are about protecting ideas and also the concepts and ideas surrounding those through specific embodiments of those ideas. Whether the example used is "sensible" or "practical" or not is to a degree irrelevant.
While a patent might be entitled "a system and method for the vertical lifting of airplanes" the key idea that it is covered will be found in the claims of the patent which also cover
all the potential ways in which that idea might be implemented.
What Airbus did here was to make sure that the idea of controlling an aircraft via these means has been recorded as being Airbus' idea.
Now, whether given
current technology this idea or the described implementation is practical or not is irrelevant. Firstly this patent might be part of a much larger family of patents - too big a idea can not be patented, or is very hard to anyway. Secondly in patent litigation the number of patents the the total amount of claims needs to be taken in to account - claims are often settled on the tit-for-tat basis.
Now a hypothetical example here might be that someone in Seattle might introduce a device onto the 787 that moves fuel around the aircraft to reduce stress on various components - a kg of fuel saved is still a kg of fuel. Now Airbus, might challenge that and state that such device is covered by one of the claims in this patent, eg: claims 1 to 4. Now if a court decides that the claims are broken by Boeing then they can either remove the device from their aircraft, pay Airbus a license fee or design a work-around (this is the basis of innovation!). Given the claims above such an innovation might be a mechanical linkage rather than one by computer (claims 2 and 3, and figure 1). Of course, maybe, Embraer have a patent for this and they sue Boeing.
Hopefully you get the idea...
Many many many companies have similar "strange" looking patents, even Boeing!
plugnik - thanks for posting the links, much appreciated,
fc101
E145 Driver