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Microsoft Researching Patent Law with New Experts

Posted by Zonk on from the who-needs-experience? dept.

wikinerd writes "According to The Register, Microsoft seeks to hire new patent experts. In their words, patent experience itself "is helpful but not mandatory" and advance knowledge of patent law is not required. The applicants need only be Computer Science or Electrical Engineering PhD holders, without any qualification in law. They will be involved in prior art search, patentability research and technical analysis. The article outlines some of the most controversial MS patents, such as online bill payment."

5 of 139 comments (clear)

  1. Re:When will we say "enough"? by pete6677 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I don't know about you, but I'm not about to fund any massive development efforts if I have no recourse whatsoever should an employee of mine decide to sell my source code to a competitor. I agree that software patents in general are a bad idea, but there's no reason why someone should not be able to protect their proprietary work in any way, such as with copyrights.

  2. What's the big deal? by mrighi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As much as I like to poke fun at Microsoft, I don't see anything wrong with this job posting.

    Performing a prior art search requires 95% technology knowledge and 5% patent knowledge. The little patent knowledge their employees will need I'm sure they'll learn on the job. Come on, we've all sold ourselves during job interviews as being "fast learners."

    In my opinion, this is just a silly reason to ridicule Microsoft.

  3. What PhD would do this? by 314m678 · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Why would anyone devote the 10 years of intense study to become a PHD in a hard science like CS or CE just to do research to see if something someone else has done is similar to something that someone else has already done.


    Wanted: PHD in physics to serve fast food through drive through window.

  4. IP law is very different by plopez · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I hope some of the real lawyers that read this site can confirm or discredit this.

    Anyway, a friend of mine who happens to be a lawyer, when I asked what she knew about IP law stated that is so different from other types of law it has its own bar exam. Unless you actually pass that exam you are not really qualified to work on IP cases or to give legal advice. She said she will not touch IP law in any form because, in effect, it would be malpractice (I, of course, was hoping for some free advice :). Lawyers who work on IP issues tend to be very specialized and the firms they work for tend to be specialized as well.

    I have to wonder if by hiring unqualified people MS is heading for lots of problems.

    --
    putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
  5. And when you can't innovate... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Litigate.