Slashdot Mirror
Melbourne Man Patents ... The Wheel
ssergE writes: "This article in The Age (A Melbourne, Australia newspaper) tells the story of a patent lawyer who has just recieved an Innovation Patent for a 'circular transportation facilitation device,' aka: a wheel." Of course software should be patentable. Look at how closely the patents are looked over -- clear indication that the world is ready to patent extremely complicated pieces of code. *sigh*
> But, what about those companies who have created such a complex algorithm for a product and have it coded in a product?
*NO* algorithm should be able to be patented. Else you start down the slipperly slope "Well this one algo is slightly complicated, so it should be patented as well." Where do you draw the line for "complex" algorithms. A algo may complex to the layman, but not to someone versed in the field.
Remember: Algorithms ARE jsut mathematical formulas. Should we allow patenting complex calculations too?! I think NOT.
20 GOTO 10
I'd love to see this go to court. And isn't it weird how funny the word patent starts to sound after you've squeezed it into a sentence 10 times? Patent patent patent....
How can I sign up to be a beta tester?
For every problem, there is at least one solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.
Most know already the Patent system needs an overhaul, and they recently sought comments on how it should go about the changes [1 2 3] Instead of everyone being so critical of the PTO, maybe some could all get together here, start a thread on it for a day or two, then forward the highest rated submissions to them, instead of just complaining about the same things over and over.
Why doesn't Hemos, Taco, or someone else start something similar to when they ask for questions for some interview. Who wouldn't like to have their name associated with changes to the patenting system. Sure you could bitch and moan about how messed up it is, yet when they asked the public, whose only input is negativity, it's not going to get better any time soon.
My two cents/sense on it all.
Want Root?
This was not a standard patent. It is an Innovation Patent which isn't reviewed by the patent office, and doesn't grant monopoly powers over the invention. It's not entirely clear to me what good it does the holder.
Woogie
The guy who patented the wheel wasn't really trying to make a point that patents were too easy to get, his point was that these "Innovation Patents" should be renamed so as not to be confused with *real* patents, where prior art, etc are actually researched. These "Innovation Patents" are just rubberstamped, basically like a way to notarize them for timing purposes (should someone want to prove prior art, or that they registered the idea first in the future).
Once again Slashdot editors show their ignorance of what they are even posting.
Don't be so bloody naive.
The American Patent Office is doing exactly what the government of the United States wants it to do. Assign rights to any and every idea to American companies to enable them to attempt to control any and all lucrative technologies.
Essentially the Patent Office is all about IP. It is actively engaged in the practice of encouraging intellectual piracy by US corporations. The sheer breadth of the obvious solutions granted patent status is impossible to comprehend unless you're prepared to drown yourself in the paperwork.
Most people are aware that the demise of the cold war has seen US government intelligence agencies focus their energies upon corporate espionage. This is designed to give US companies an advantage over foreign rivals by engaging in activies that are illegal domestically but are apparently okay when your competition is foreign.
Is it too much of a conceptual leap to understand that the US Patent Office is a piece of legal legerdemain designed to accomplish exactly the same goals?
Patents are being granted to US companies at rates that defy justification. IBM alone files thousands of patents a year. Yet the US Patent Office continues to grant patents willy-nilly to so-called 'inventions' that are clearly obvious or predated by previous work.
This isn't simple incompetence, it's deliberate culpability. Rather than a program of stupidity, beauracratic inefficiency or simple mis-understanding, it's an extremely active policy of Intellectual Piracy.
Indeed, there exists a US company (at least one) whose entire purpose is to conduct patent searches in foreign domains for new ideas with the intent of subsequently patenting these ideas in the US before the real inventor does so.
Then the US pressures foreign governements into looking kindly upon any patents which have already been 'legitimised' by the US patent office. Those governments with a shred of common sense laugh themselves silly and tell Uncle Sam to fuck off.
Welcome to the wonderful world of Intellectual Piracy. Have a nice day.