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> Basically, if a patent holder is designated as an “individual inventor, startup” or “under-resourced innovator” then their patents are protected from the IPR

> Basically, if a patent holder is designated as an “individual inventor, startup” or “under-resourced innovator” then their patents are protected from the IPR process. Just curious...is there a good faith argument why this change would be good?

jcranmer 3y ago
The good faith argument is that the people who are predating on the poor, beleaguered genius inventor would be unable to avail themselves of a low-cost-for-the-challenger-high-cost-for-the-inventor mechanism for challenging patents. What makes it bad faith is that the reason the mechanism exists is because the predators in the patent system are the inventors, not the challengers.
tomtheelder 3y ago
They did leave something extremely important out here that helps to explain the good faith argument. From the source: > Petitions challenging under-resourced patent owner patents where the patentee has or is attempting to bring products to market; So I’d say the good faith argument is that it’s designed to protect larger orgs from bullying actual inventors/startups by attempting to threaten the legitimacy of their patents. The bit about bringing products to market is supposed to exclude trolls. More from the source: > Such limited resources may impact the perceived fairness of post-grant reviews. For example, some stakeholders in response to the RFC expressed concern that under-resourced inventors are unable to afford the costs involved in defending patents in post-grant review. Some stakeholders advocating for small businesses and individual inventors urged the Office to take into account the financial resources of a patent owner, and to limit reviews of patents owned by under-resourced entities who lack funding to defend challenges to their patents but who have sought to bring their inventions to market either themselves or through a licensee. So yeah basically the argument is that defending themselves in this proceeds is too onerous for small entities. So I think that’s the good faith argument. I’m skeptical, though I will happily admit that I don’t know much about the uses and abuses of the patent system.
Zigurd 3y ago
On the face of it, it is good. The problem is trolls masquerading as individual/small-business inventors.

jcranmer 3y ago

The good faith argument is that the people who are predating on the poor, beleaguered genius inventor would be unable to avail themselves of a low-cost-for-the-challenger-high-cost-for-the-inventor mechanism for challenging patents. What makes it bad faith is that the reason the mechanism exists is because the predators in the patent system are the inventors, not the challengers.

tomtheelder 3y ago

They did leave something extremely important out here that helps to explain the good faith argument. From the source: > Petitions challenging under-resourced patent owner patents where the patentee has or is attempting to bring products to market; So I’d say the good faith argument is that it’s designed to protect larger orgs from bullying actual inventors/startups by attempting to threaten the legitimacy of their patents. The bit about bringing products to market is supposed to exclude trolls. More from the source: > Such limited resources may impact the perceived fairness of post-grant reviews. For example, some stakeholders in response to the RFC expressed concern that under-resourced inventors are unable to afford the costs involved in defending patents in post-grant review. Some stakeholders advocating for small businesses and individual inventors urged the Office to take into account the financial resources of a patent owner, and to limit reviews of patents owned by under-resourced entities who lack funding to defend challenges to their patents but who have sought to bring their inventions to market either themselves or through a licensee. So yeah basically the argument is that defending themselves in this proceeds is too onerous for small entities. So I think that’s the good faith argument. I’m skeptical, though I will happily admit that I don’t know much about the uses and abuses of the patent system.

Zigurd 3y ago

On the face of it, it is good. The problem is trolls masquerading as individual/small-business inventors.