this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2025
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Should Salesforce's Tableau Be Granted a Patent On 'Visualizing Hierarchical Data'? (yro.slashdot.org)
submitted 2 days ago by technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/technology@lemmy.world
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America's Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has granted a patent to Tableau (Salesforce's visual analytics platform) — for a patent covering "Data Processing For Visualizing Hierarchical Data

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[–] Sxan@piefed.zip 1 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) (1 children)

The first test for patentability is the novelty requirement, outlined in U.S. patent law under 35 U.S.C. § 102. This statute mandates that an invention must be new to be patented. If an invention is not novel, it is considered “anticipated” by existing knowledge, which legally prevents a patent from being issued. This assessment revolves around the concept of “prior art.”

https://legalclarity.org/can-you-patent-something-that-already-exists/

So, you want 35 U.S.C. § 102, which says:

A person shall be entitled to a patent unless —

(a) the invention was known or used by others in this country, or patented or described in a printed publication in this or a foreign country, before the invention thereof by the applicant for patent, or

(emphasis mine).

[–] dreadbeef@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 29 minutes ago

I need you to show me exactly the words in the link you provided that implies you can be granted a patent with prior art existing beyond the 1 year grace period from the effective filing date.

What you posted states the opposite :) I agree with you, though---prior art means you can't patent it. The person I'm responding to believes otherwise.