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Cutting Through the Patent Thicket
xzvf writes wrote to mention a BusinessWeek article positing that the overgrowth of patents is harmful to innovation. From the article: "The first problem with patents is that the entire process takes too long: three years on average, often as long as five, and getting longer all the time. So when a venture capitalist invests in a company, its IP 'dowry' remains, at best, provisional. How much would you pay for a company when its assets are hidden from view?"
You smoked dried animals? That is strange. ...
What's it like?
..... It's also what is allowed to get patented. Consider the whole NTP/RIM debacle. NTP is holding RIM hostage with some (at best) weak patents that exist because someone is allowed to file them. While it is true that their patents are being shot down one after the other, it should never have gotten this far. Clean that up and I think you'll see the question posed by Newsweek become a non-issue.
This is my opinion. To make sure you don't steal it, it's covered by the DMCA.
Moded, so technically it's fine.
How many people can read hex if only you and dead people can read hex?
I attended a seminar on patent protection in my field (chemistry). Most of the speakers were patent attorneys. Basically, the overall theme of their presentations was "we can help you hoodwink the patent examiners", basically by flinging lots of overly-broad @#$# against the wall and hoping the over-burdened examiner lets some stick.
While patents are probably a necessary evil, the system does need to be reformed, and far fewer patents need to be granted.