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EU Patent Staff Go On Strike

Posted by timothy on from the stop-exploiting-me dept.

h4rm0ny writes "Last Friday, staff at the European Patent Office went on strike. They protested outside for several hours and issued a statement claiming that 'the organisation is decentralising and focusing on granting as many patents as possible to gain financially from fees generated.' They also declared this as being disastrous for innovation and that their campaign was not for better wages, but for better quality patents. Meanwhile, an article on it discusses the US's own approach to dealing with the increasing flood of patent applications: a community patent project to help identify prior art. It might sound like a grass-roots scheme, and maybe it is, but those roots include such patent behemoths as IBM. So it looks like on both sides of the Atlantic, some signs of sanity might be emerging in the patent world from those people right in the thick of it." Note, this was a half-day strike, not ongoing.

9 of 116 comments (clear)

  1. Last Friday by houghi · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Better late then never. I just would not call it news anymore. There was a time that /. had items as one of the first. Now the delay is getting larger.

    Just ditch things that are older then 24 hours. That will save you a LOT of time. Perhaps even enough to read the article before writing and/or editing a summery.

    --
    Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
  2. Re:Slashdot on strike as well by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    If /. was against prior art, we wouldn't have threads at all.

  3. Re:Partial Patent Solution - Hang All The Lawyers! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    You're as funny as I am a troll.

  4. Consequences? by owlnation · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    ... and nothing of value was lost.

  5. tag: typoinsummary by dunnius · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Meanwhile, n article on it discusses the US's own approach...

    Meanwhile, an article on it discusses the US's own approach...
    It would help if the editors would proofread to avoid speling errors. (Mispelled on purpose)

    1. Re:tag: typoinsummary by mcgrew · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      It would help if the editors would proofread to avoid speling errors. (Mispelled on purpose)

      You misspelled "porpoise". So long, and thanks for all the fish!

      --
      Free Martian Whores!
  6. Re:Slashdot on strike as well by cp.tar · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    We wouldn't even have flames.

    --
    Ignore this signature. By order.
  7. Re:Finally! by TheP4st · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Some common sense comes into play! Hopefully something happens as a result of this.

    A first post that is not about niggers, sexual acts with domestic animals, a lame "first post" etc.

    Am I still on /.?

    --
    "I have downloaded hundreds and hundreds of records, why would I care if somebody downloads ours?" Robin Pecknold
  8. h2o8o by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    of FreeBSD Usenet be fun. It Used hEad spinning hapless *BSD