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Once again, reporter engages in static analysis to ignore a good solution. Article confidently states that they get so many inventions that a thorough review w
by pkteison 15y ago
Once again, reporter engages in static analysis to ignore a good solution. Article confidently states that they get so many inventions that a thorough review would cost too many billions for fees to support. But why isn't charging whatever a proper review actually costs a good option? Raise fees a bit, raise standards a lot, and this half a million each year volume problem goes away too.
I can't stand the idea that the patent office is so bad that we should only consider courtroom based solutions. Courtrooms are terrible too - way too much expense, too much uncertainty, and too large $s getting risked on what a jury decides or when a judge last had a snack break. They should have their place, but it shouldn't be the first line of defense or general solution for the problem.
- daydream 15y agoThe author is "is a professor of law at the University of California, Los Angeles." Not a reporter.
- Palomides 15y agosurely raising the fee is just going to screw over anyone without corporate backing, and do nothing to the corporations who already can afford to file most of the spurious patents?
- ataggart 15y agoBecause the FDA is such a good model for fostering innovation from individuals and small firms?
- pkteison 15y agoI don't see the connection. The patent office isn't stopping you from doing business until you run into patent trolls.
- Natsu 15y agoI think the problem lies in the "until you run into patent trolls" part. They wouldn't exist without their bad patents, after all, which come from the PTO.
- Retric 15y agoI think there is a clear correlation between domain squatters and the cost to squat domains. You will see the same thing with patent trolls, they need something that is "reasonably obvious" but not in use at time of patent application. And the higher the cost the fewer such patents will exist covering smaller areas.
- JoeAltmaier 15y agoSmacks of a Poll Tax. Only those with money can make money. Not very egalitarian, which is a fundamental principle of the Patent Office.
- pkteison 15y agoCurrently, patents have worth well in excess of the application cost. Much of this is because patents are generally presumed valid - it's bloody hard to get a court to overturn one, for example. The article points out that this presumption is ill founded - patent examiners don't have time to do a thorough review - and suggests that the solution is to make it much easier to challenge them in court. You want to talk about a situation where only those with money can make money? Make it easy to overturn a patent by hiring more lawyers. Cost of keeping a patent will skyrocket, value of obtaining a patent will plummet. If you're going to have software patents, it seems much better for everyone to have strong patents by weeding out lousy patents before they are granted than by inviting constant multi million dollar legal battles.