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They already passed such legislation. And you're right, it is a joke. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leahy-Smith_America_Invents_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wi
by zhemao 13y ago
They already passed such legislation. And you're right, it is a joke.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leahy-Smith_America_Invents_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leahy-Smith_America_Invents_Ac...
Basically, it moves US patent law from first-to-invent to first-to-file. So it lowers litigation costs for the big guys who take ideas from the little guys and use their big legal departments to file the patent on it before the little guy can.
- Karunamon 13y ago.. or in a less cynical view, it makes it easier for a little guy to sue a big guy without getting into a huge "who did what first" court battle.
- Drakim 13y ago...or in an even more cynical view, let's big corporations and trolls to file patents for things that have long been in use but nobody even thought about patenting.
- MichaelGG 13y agoThat's not how it works. It doesn't allow you to patent prior things because you're first, it is just to kill of disputes when people patent something "simultaneously".
- Drakim 13y agoConsidering the patents that have been granted, I'm not so sure about that. Maybe it's supposed to be like that in theory, but in practice it seems companies can copyright basic shapes and colors.
- Karunamon 13y agoIt's not and never has been that simple. Apple didn't patent the square with rounded circle - they panted the square with a rounded circle in combination with a single button at the bottom and with a specific UI in the middle laid out in a specific way with specific features.