need someone to develop this....

[Al Johnson]

For a proper answer you'll have to ask a patent lawyer in your jurisdiction. 
The rules change from country to country, and are possibly much more nuanced 
than a non-lawyer will remember. There's a fine example on Groklaw where a US 
patent lawyer explains the various cutoff dates which may or may not apply 
when searching for prior art to invalidate a patent depending on the exact 
circumstances surrounding the patent. I got the impression that in the US 
public disclosure might be interpreted more narrowly than the fairly broad 
interpretation I understand it has here in the UK too.

That said, I'm not sure there's anything you can do to guarantee someone can't 
patent the idea. The best you can do is maximise the chance of getting the 
patent invalidated after the event. I would certainly hope that posting to a 
technical mailing list with multiple web archives would be a sufficient 
public disclosure with a verifiable date, but with patent systems as broken 
as they seem to be I wouldn't bet on it.

On Monday 03 December 2007, Kyle Bassett wrote:
> ok-for hardware and software concerns, how can we donate an idea to the
> public, to guarantee the inability of someone patenting the idea?
>
> Something above just mentioning it on a public/mediated ml.
>
> In addition, could you publicly state your idea to "timestamp" it for
> patenting?
>
> -Kyle
>
> On Dec 3, 2007 4:49 AM, Al Johnson <openmoko at mazikeen.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> > Remember this varies with national legislation. In the UK there is AFAIK
> > no 1
> > year grace period; public disclosure instantly renders the invention
> > unpatentable.
> >
> > On Sunday 02 December 2007, Clayton Jones wrote:
> > > Just a quick note based on all the patent research i've done:
> > > Any disclosure in a public forum, whether limited in distribution or
> > > not, is considered "public disclosure".  As a matter of fact, telling
> > > anyone your idea (other than the people who are co-inventors) is
> > > considered "public disclosure".
> > > However, that does NOT preclude you from filing a patent - all it does
> > > is limit the amount of time you have to file a patent.
> > > Once public disclosure is made, you have 1 year to file an application
> > > with the US Patent office.  After that, it's considered that you've
> > > given up any rights to patent.
> > >
> > > However, in practical terms it's more difficult to prove original
> > > invention once disclosure is made unles you keep a detailed, dated
> > > notebook (in ink).
> > >
> > > On Dec 1, 2007 12:23 PM, Gabriel Ambuehl <gabriel_ambuehl at buz.ch> wrote:
> > > > On Saturday 01 December 2007 08:34:08 GWMobile wrote:
> > > > > I don't think discussing this here would be considered an open
> > > > > disclosure.
> > > > > Talking on a finite list or limited membership with moderation and
> >
> > thus
> >
> > > > > controlled membership is not necessarily open disclosure and not
> > > > > the same as a public printing therefore I think it would still be
> > > > > patentable.
> > > >
> > > > You are aware that most mailing lists are archived and indexed by
> >
> > Google,
> >
> > > > aren't you?
> > > >
> > > > By every sane meaning of "public", this is public.
> > > >