Patent Reform Bill Introduced in U.S. House

kanad wrote to mention a ZDNet article covering the introduction of the Patent Reform Act of 2005 to the U.S. House of Representatives. From the article: "Probably the most sweeping change would be the creation of a process to challenge patents after they are granted by the Patent and Trademark Office. 'Opposition requests' can be filed up to nine months after a patent is awarded or six months after a legal notice alleging infringement is sent out. The bill is supported by the USPTO and Microsoft who have been recently asking for patent reforms ." More details of the bill are available at the Congressman's website."

Comments

Peer Review - Solution

[dsginter]

Why not introduce a peer review process by which a patent in a particular industry is reviewed by patent holders in the same industry? In this manner, a frivolous patent could be easily circumvented with a simple review request. A few hundred peers simply review the patent and then decide if it is legit.

The same method could be used to avoid costly court battles. This seems like a no-brainer. What am I missing?

How about 9 months after first challenge?

[jmichaelg]

My preference is for no software patents at all.

Failing that, how about starting the patent challenge clock when the patent holder issues a claim instead of starting the clock when the patent is issued. It'd deal with submarine patents as well as eliminate the need to look over the patent office's shoulder on each and every patent they issue.

Microsoft will challenge everything

[NigelJohnstone]

1. So they'll have a whole department sitting like hawks watching the patent office and challenging everything remotely connected to their markets, and you and I will not have a department challenging every BS patent Microsoft submits.
When you come to challenge it, they'll say "well he didn't challenge it within the alloted time...."

2. "Another major change would be to award a patent to the first person to submit their paperwork to the Patent Office. Currently, patents are awarded to the first person who concocted the invention, a timeframe that can be difficult to prove."

No need to invent now, just have to have a patent office ready and waiting to patent other peoples invention! And best of all its completely legal!

FUBAR

[Kirth]

That's what patents are in the first place. And not just software-patents.

We're being swamped by genetically modified whatever, just because some company managed to get a patent on it and thus has no incentive to keep its bacteria in the tank. So what if the whatever just produces some disaster like polluting fields of non genetically modified crops? Its patented, you can sue the victim of the pollution.

And even better, some companies managed to patent parts of viruses (which they didn't invent, of course) -- now, whoever wants to identify them in something like a HIV-test has to pay royalties. The international red cross who wants donated blood checked for instance..

Now talk about "growing costs in health-care". The whole affair is just stacking up costs everywhere, in the judical system, taxes, health-care, ecology, you name it. Patents are a frigging financial catastrophe.

That's fucked up beyond any repair, the whole thing has to be ditched.