FTC to Examine Patent Application Process

Armchair Dissident writes "The BBC is running an article that suggests that the FTC is to look into the way that patents are reviewed and issued. If this article is correct it seems that many guesses as to how patents are issued were correct; with 95% of patent applications being approved. They may also address the issue of "patent trolls"."

Comments

damn, patent trolls

[cavebear42]

we never should have let them patent trolls
can you belive that there are a few still live too?
reg numbers:
2294165
2220615
2241634

damn furry little guys still give me nightmares.

Re:For a moment I thought this was good...

[Marxist Hacker 42]

I include software engineers- which may or may not be real engineers by certain people's definitions (software engineering being WAY too young of a process and way too much of an art for most people's tastes on what engineering is). However, yes, there's a real problem with American Engineers staying employed or employable right now. Partially because of bigotry in middle management- they have this prejudice that anybody with an American birth certificate is going to be WAY too expensive, especially if they have a college degree. Partially because engineers elsewhere- especially in India and Southeast Asia- are so much cheaper that they make American engineers look way too expensive.

Re:For a moment I thought this was good...

[Marxist Hacker 42]

Actually, the majority seem to be people with Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctorate Degrees from various American schools who were unlucky enough to also have an American birth certificate. IEEE, TechsUnite, and the AFL/CIO all have lobbies based on the huge number of software and hardware engineers unable to find work in this so-called recovery.