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How to Fix U.S. Patents
Frisky070802 writes "IEEE Spectrum has an interesting article on how to fix the U.S. patent system. It starts with an example of how broken the system is, with Smuckers suing a small company for crustless PB&J. It has a great overview of how the system has evolved and how much it favors the big patent holders, and suggests 3 specific fixes: 'create incentives and opportunities for parties to challenge the novelty and nonobviousness of an invention before the PTO grants a patent,' examine the important patents meticulously; don't waste effort on the unimportant ones that can be ousted early, and for examining prior art, use judges and special masters rather than uninformed juries."
And here's my solution to the nation's overpacked prisons: everybody behave! See, it's really just that easy ... now go do it!
To be serious for a moment, all we'd have to do is release nonviolent drug offenders. Then we wouldn't have the shame of incarcerating more of our population than any country, even china or russia.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
How the hell is this not modded off-topic?
"Uh... yeah, Brain, but where are we going to find rubber pants our size?" --Pinky