Scott, If my memory serves me right, I remember that someone, NEC I think, had patented the process of gluing surface mount parts on the bottom of PCB's prior to wave soldering. I believe the discussion was right on this very forum. I think NEC received a number of patents for what was perceived as "normal" assembly practices. I don't think anything has been awarded in terms of penalties for patent violations. Anyone else remember it that way? Bill Kasprzak Moog Inc., Systems Group, Process Engineer -----Original Message----- From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Scott Nimon Sent: Friday, January 07, 2005 2:09 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [TN] Patent No.: US6,617,529 B2 DC members, I have encountered a patent which any through-hole land patterns with an annular ring of >0.4mm and used for lead-free soldering is in violation of. We have used 0.4mm as our standard annular ring for all through-hole devices with hole sizes greater than 1.6mm for years. A link to the patent is provided below. Are there any IPC documents I can use to invalidate this patent? Any suggestions or comments will be welcomed. http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL &p=1&u=/netahtml/srchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=6,617,529.WKU.&OS=PN/6,617, 529&RS=PN/6,617,529 Scott Nimon Yazaki North America 6801 Haggerty Road Mail Stop: 2229E Canton, MI 48187 Phone: 734-983-2630 Fax: 734-983-2631 [log in to unmask] Yazaki North America, Inc. - Confidentiality Notice This email is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential, proprietary and/or privileged material. Any review, distribution, reliance on, or other use of this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you receive this message in error, please immediately notify the sender and delete it and all copies of it from your system. Thank you. --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8e To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 ----------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8e To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 -----------------------------------------------------