I have just been imformed that a company which produced an application note for one of their products a few years ago has now desided that they are going to apply for a patent on the idea contained in the application note so anyone using the idea mentioned is now going to be in breach of their patent.
I am not a lawer but this is clearly complete and utter bollocks,firstly you cannot apply for a patent for an idea which has been published in the public domain and secondly you cannot apply for patent fees retroactivly where someone had used your idea without knowing that you were thinking of applying for a patent 5 years later.
The idea that this company should waste their time even trying this sort of thing is really bizaare and it makes you wonder what kind of micky mouse outfit they are,and the name of the company?Xilinx corporation.