FTC Issues Report Critical Of Patent Policy

hayek writes "The Federal Trade Commission issued a report yesterday regarding failings in current U.S. patent policy. Among other things, the FTC recommends that the burden of proof on parties challenging patents in court be lowered from the current 'clear and convincing' standard, to the easier 'preponderance of the evidence' standard. Even if you don't think the FTC recommendations go far enough, implementing them would be a good start to solving some of the problems caused by the current system." nolife points out a report at Law.com indicating that, under the current system, "Patent examiners have from 8 to 25 hours to read and understand each application, search for prior art, evaluate patentability, communicate with the applicant, work out necessary revisions, and reach and write up conclusions."

Comments

It's true

[r_glen]

When Amazon can patent simple online sales methods, you know there's a problem with the process.

Correction: Patent examiners have....

[Anonymous Coward]

...oh, I'd say somewhere from ZERO to 25 hours to read a patent.

It's an oldie but a goodie.

There is an easier solution, and it's FREE

[Tau Zero]

Once some describes an idea in open literature, nobody else can even attempt to patent it unless they can prove priority. The inventor has one year to file, in the United States. Once that year has elapsed, the idea cannot be patented.

So there's your patent-free idea database: publications of any sort. This ought to be obvious, because "obvious" is one of the synonyms of "patent"...