> I am surprised at the remark towards the end how unlawfully accepted patents cannot be retracted/invalidated. > That totally does not make sense to me: how i

> I am surprised at the remark towards the end how unlawfully accepted patents cannot be retracted/invalidated. > That totally does not make sense to me: how is this possible? It's not. I mean, AIUI the patent office doesn't really have a process for doing so on it's own initiative, but 3rd parties can and do challenge patents and their claims (esp. w. prior art), which in extreme cases can result in a patent being narrowed to the point of uselessness or even revoked entirely.