Re:As good a time as any other (Score 2)

Trying to save your legal argument by switching to a practical argument is just bad style. More importantly geekoid is also right in practice.

In law yes, but in practice, no.

... At that point, the only way for it to be undone is to go to court, where the burden of proof will be on you to show that prior art covers the invention at hand.

In practice, why would any sane person go to court to "undo" a patent? If inventors chose not to patent their idea and someone else steals it, they can continue to use the idea. If the patent holder wants them to stop, the patent holder must enforce her right. When the patent holder takes the inventor to court, the patent holder has the burden of proof to show that the patent was infringed. That's why there are many more cases of Apple vs Samsung rather than Samsung vs Apple cases. More importantly, the issue of the burden of proof in civil cases has very little impact in practice. As long as you have some evidence, the burden of proof issue will not be decisive. This is not criminal law where you establish your case beyond reasonable doubt. Both sides will need to persuade the jury that their case is better on the balance of probability.