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Why Juries Have No Place In the Patent System
New submitter Isara writes "GigaOm's Jeff John Roberts has a compelling writeup about patent trials and how juries are detrimental to justice in such cases. Roberts uses the recent Apple-Samsung trial as the backdrop for his article; although the trial lasted three weeks, during which hundreds of documents were presented and the finer points of U.S. patent law were discussed, the jury only took 2-3 days to deliberate. 'Patents are as complex as other industrial policies like subsidies or regulatory regimes. When disputes arise, they should be put before an expert tribunal rather than a jury that is easily swayed by schoolyard "copycat" narratives.'"
Why is it that every other country where this case was brought to court denied apple's claims?
This would put patent renewal in the hands of the wealthiest, further tipping the balance in the favor of the rich.
Microsoft is to software what Budweiser is to beer.
I think one problem is that patent lawsuits are just assumed to happen. It seems, too often, the patent office just approves patents figuring that they'd get sorted out in the courts. Meanwhile, the courts just assume that patents must be valid by default if they've been approved by the patent office.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
nonsense.
BOTH sides had patents they were trying to enforce. He could easily have sided with Samsung with respect to their patents, but he didn't.
You are attributing a motive to someone because you didn't like the outcome so now you are coming up with rationalizations for why it turned out the way it did.
Everyone is coming up with their own conspiracy theory.
Oh, its an attack on FOSS
Oh, the judge was paid off
Oh, the jury was biased against a foreign company.
Oh, we are all doomed because of round rectangles.
There are people on the other side of the coin that thought the outcome was just. What was their motive? They were just seduced by Apple?
I don't like software patents as much as the next guy. Until they change, this is the game that we have to play. This is why Google spent so much on Motorola to get its patents.
If everyone would just look around, the same BS happens in many other areas, automobile innovation, tv's, biotechnology.