Prior art is defined by Title 35, United States Code, Section 102, which states: "A person shall be entitled to a patent unless...." This language is followed by a series of definitions, the most important of which is summarized in the following. A person is not entitled to a patent if the invention was "known or used by others in this country, or was patented or described in a printed publication in this or a foreign country" before the date of invention by the applicant for the patent. If, for example, an invention is known or is being used by someone in the United States, another person who makes the same invention at a later date may not obtain a patent.
	Here is an example of a video streaming server, circa 1984.
	The following transcript is from a usenet thread that took place in December 1990. In this thread someone known as JFE is asking if anyone knows of an FTP site where Mac audio files can be acquired. A second person enters, C. Alex Harden, also expressing interest. Finally they are directed by Cinderella Man, aka. Derek L. to a server located at Stanford, sumex-aim.stanford.edu [IP # 36.44.0.6], where they can find a collection of audio files for download via FTP that include three big Star Trek files.
		From: jfe@vax5.cit.cornell.edu (jfe@vax5.cit.cornell.edu) Subject: audio file ftp sites View this article only Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek Date: 1990-12-18 10:21:15 PST Can anyone out there tell me any good ftp sites for Mac audio files. It would be nice if they have the TNG files. Thank you. E-mail me please. Message 2 in thread From: C. Alex Harden (v409epk3@ubvmsa.cc.buffalo.edu) Subject: Re: audio file ftp sites View this article only Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek Date: 1990-12-18 13:30:10 PST In article <1990Dec18.142116.1696@vax5.cit.cornell.edu>, jfe@vax5.cit.cornell.edu writes... >Can anyone out there tell me any good ftp sites for Mac audio files. It would >be nice if they have the TNG files. Thank you. E-mail me please. No way! Tell us here! I would like to know also. K ^ A C. Alex Harden ^ | ^ State University Of New York At Buffalo \|/ Bitnet: V409EPK3@UBVMSB <--+--> Internet: harden@acsu.buffalo.edu /|\ Usenet: ub!ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu!v409epk3 v | v US Mail: 368 Wilkeson Quad; Buffalo, NY 14261 O v S Any statements made above are by me unless otherwise noted. Message 3 in thread From: Cinderella Man (derek@coco2.albany.edu) Subject: Re: audio file ftp sites View this article only Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek Date: 1990-12-18 15:25:37 PST Macintosh sound resource files can be gotten at via FTP from sumex-aim.stanford.edu [IP # 36.44.0.6], in directory /info-mac/sound. There're about three big Star Trek files, compressed with stuffit and encoded with binhex. Derek L. -- "Beam me up, man!"
	This flowchart describes the process being discussed on December 18, 1990. It is important to note that this was a public server, freely accessible to anyone with a network connection. These are the early days of file swapping and this may be the first recorded instance of sharing what was probably copyrighted material.
	Compare this with the overview of Acacia's DMT Technology.