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The Difficulties of Patent Busting

Posted by michael on from the uphill-both-ways-in-the-snow dept.

wheresjim writes "An article on CNN.com entitled 'Tough road for patent-busters' describes the hard road one has to follow to get a questionable patent revoked. According to the article, of the approx 7,000,000 existing patents, only 614 have been revoked, and only 3927 have had their claims narrowed."

12 of 159 comments (clear)

  1. Someone should... by fiannaFailMan · · Score: 5, Funny

    patent the process of getting a patent revoked.

    --
    Drill baby drill - on Mars
    1. Re:Someone should... by phearlez · · Score: 4, Funny

      No way, patent the process of getting a lame-assed patent. Think of how much money you could make in just the first week of enforcement...

      --
      Bad management trumps ideology - Show the world you want better leadership. http://www.timefornewmanagement.com
    2. Re:Someone should... by gcaseye6677 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Tell me about it. Maybe I can patent the process of posting a lame, unimaginative joke on Slashdot and put an end to this stupidity once and for all (or make money from it). Since prior art is apparently no longer required to get a patent, I might have a shot afterall.

  2. Too bad... by OrthodonticJake · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's a shame how Einstein had to go into physics; we really needed him at the patent office. What a waste.

    --
    I regularly report MSN spam to the Hotmail admins.
  3. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  4. Back in the day... by k4_pacific · · Score: 4, Funny

    My Grandpa used to tell me about how, back in the day, rival companies would pay thugs to form a mob and go bustin' up each others' patents with nuthin' but axe handles and gumption...

    Maybe that's the solution.

    --
    Unknown host pong.
    1. Re:Back in the day... by homer_ca · · Score: 2, Funny

      He didn't happen to work for Pinkerton, did he?

  5. A questionable basis for this "uphill battle" by phearlez · · Score: 4, Funny
    The EFF is similarly relying on volunteers -- but without offering rewards. That's a surefire recipe for limited success, said Bradley Wright, a patent lawyer with Banner & Witcoff Ltd. "There are not a lot of people willing to spend free time to research for prior art."

    Yeah, may as well expect that people will spend hundreds of hours working on software that they'll give away for free. Hey, maybe they'll even give away the source code! Bwahahahaha, those crazy kids these days.

    --
    Bad management trumps ideology - Show the world you want better leadership. http://www.timefornewmanagement.com
  6. Re:statistics by jeblucas · · Score: 2, Funny
    Statistics being used to obfuscate? How can this be?

    Did you know that nearly 54% of statistics are made up on the spot?

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    blarg.
  7. Re:MSPatent by jtwronski · · Score: 3, Funny
    Do you know how much coffee Microsoft had to invest to come up with the idea of double clicking.
    I don't know about you (or them for that matter), but after about 2 cups, I have a hard time only pushing the button once.
  8. Re:Article a bit misleading by Ian+Peon · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's not a crazy patent.
    This is a crazy patent!

    --
    Never never never smoke crack before geometry class!
  9. Re:MSPatent by BillX · · Score: 2, Funny

    That's an Amazon infringement - twice!

    --
    Caveat Emptor is not a business model.