Tech Patents on Science Friday

lyonsj writes "NPR's Science Friday show is discussing technology patents today; it sounds like this one is going to be well worth a listen. They'll be discussing Jeff Bezos' letter about patent reform, and the bar's reaction to that letter (which everyone should read). Call in and talk about tech patents with a law professor, a guy from the USPTO, and the chairman of Aurigin Systems. " Check out NPR's website for radio stations, and you can grab the archive of the show later on.

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Article 1, Section 8

[hey!]

On Monday morning, Herbert P. Wolmsley,
executive director of Washington-based
Intellectual Property Owners Association, [snip}... called for "a refresher course in Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8 of the
Constitution.


OK I'll bite. Article 1, section 8 generally outlines the powers of Congress. Clause 8 specifies Congress's powers to grant Copyrights and Patents. Here it is in all its glory:

The Congress shall have the Power To promote Progress of Science and useful Arts by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to the respective Writings and Discoveries.

The first thing to note is that Congress is under no constitutional obligation to protect every manner of novelty, and that power is granted with the express purpose of promoting progress. Congress may, of course use this power for other purposes, such as protecting what they believe to be a natural right to intellectual property.

Leaving aside the issue of what is a protectable Discovery (since the current state of the law says these things are protectable), what Bezos is raising is the question of what constitues "limited Times". In the context of the clause, I think that limited times must be understood as such a length of time that that "To promote Progress of Science and useful Arts". Congress, in my non-lawyer opinion, has no power to establish patents for periods of time that manifestly retard progress in the Useful Arts; at the very least it flies in the face of the reason the founders granted them this power. Bezos is suggesting that patent terms for software and business methods lasting twenty years damages progress.