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USPTO Decides To Lower Obviousness Standards

Posted by samzenpus on from the patent-limbo-stick dept.

ciaran_o_riordan writes "Anyone who feels that patent quality is just far too high nowadays will be glad to hear that the USPTO has decided to ditch four of their seven tests for obviousness. Whereas the 2007 guidelines said that an idea is considered obvious if it consisted of '[predictable] variations [...] based on design incentives or other market forces' or if there was 'Use of a known technique [prior art] to improve similar devices (methods, or products) in the same way,' the new guidelines do away with those tests. The classic 'teaching-suggestion-motivation' test is still there, with two others. For software developers, silly patents are not the main problem, but they certainly aggravate the matter. As described in one patent lawyer's summary, this change will 'give applicants greater opportunities to obtain allowance of claims.'"

2 of 129 comments (clear)

  1. Patent patenting by ChristofferC · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Somebody should patent the process of filing a patent.

  2. blamology by epine · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Bush started a war he didn't know how to finish, bungled Katrina, presided over the passing of the DMCA and Patriot acts, color-coded fear against Muslims, and was holding the wheel for eight long years when the economy drove off a cliff on the ideological experiment that greedy self-interest will self-regulate (a legitimate inheritance by birth and creed). If he got blamed for anything else, I was already past my saturation point. On the plus side, he galvanized.

    Obama stabilized the banking sector, but not enough. He started the process of fixing the medicare problem, but left too much to be fixed later. He also failed to send U.S. nuclear submarines into the gulf to quell the oil leak, never mind that it wouldn't have worked. He failed to send U.S. nuclear submarines to deal with the corrupt bankers on Wall Street. It's not clear this lynching would have worked, either, without sinking everything. He capitulated to republican demands to prioritize a balanced budget over boosting employment. On the plus side, if you can stay awake, his sentences parse.

    I listened to a great EconTalk podcast last night on the destructive nature of letting people patent the wrong things.

    Heller on Gridlock and the Tragedy of the Anticommons. Heller hails from the Columbia Law School.

    One of the lessons from Iraq is that it is easier to tear something apart than put it back together again. This is why republicans barely try to address problems such as health care reform. The nice thing about foreign adventures is leaving the mess behind.

    Tell me, what was the Bush legacy on building up government institutions for the long term? If you count the Patriot Act, I think American should fold up shop on exporting freedom. If that's not what America wants to be, so be it.

    And it's not like strengthening government has to lead to big or expensive government. Fixing the patent system would be good for American competitiveness, and probably save money as well.

    Some of these measures would be unpopular among circles that peddle influence. They get away with this under the cover of media that inflames polarization until the average voter can't distinguish better from worse. Obama doesn't appear to have the backbone to get on TV and challenge this, a monumental missed opportunity considering that W handed him the worst mess since the great depression.