Earlier in the week, I released a patent under the GNU General Public License (GPL). The patent is for a solar desalination device intended for irrigation use. The patent was formerly pending with the US Patent and Trademark office (USPTO). Unfortunately some paper work was sent to the wrong address, and the patent has subsequently been reclassified as 'abandoned'. I could send the USPTO some extra money and continue the patent process, but I have no real intention of trying to make money from the idea - plus I don't have extra money lying around.

The original patent declaration is located at one of my web sites -- www.aceize.com/node/114. Images and an rtf file of the declaration have been attached to the post.

A little more information about the background of the patent and why I am releasing the idea via an open source license can be found here. -- www.aceize.com/node/116