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USPTO Asks For Input On Software Patents
New submitter MouseTheLuckyDog writes "The patent office is reviewing its policy on software patents and is asking for feedback (PDF). Groklaw reports that the USPTO will be hosting a pair of roundtable sessions in February, during which the public will have the ability to attend and put forth their viewpoints. From the article: 'It's obvious the USPTO realizes there is serious unhappiness among software developers, and they'd like to improve things. Software developers are the folks most immediately and directly affected by the software patents the USPTO issues, and it's getting to the point that no one can code anything without potentially getting sued. I don't wish to be cynical, though, as that's a useless thing. So maybe we should look at it as an opportunity to at least be heard. It's progress that they even thought about having a dialogue with developers, if you look at it that way.' If you can make it to Silicon Valley on February 12 or New York City on February 27, go and make your voice heard."
Perhaps Slashdotters in the areas around these meetings would like to get together to plan, practice, and eventually travel to these meetings? Beers/Sodas after the meetings are suggested.
"Here Lies Philip J. Fry, named for his uncle, to carry on his spirit"
The problem is that there is no single person whose fault the bad patent is. Consider if A (arbitrarily wealthy) and B (not) independently invent and locally produce X, but only A files for it, unaware of B. B resolves not to apply for a patent. Patent examiner C, also unaware of B, grants it. Company D hires B and begins producing Y, a variant of X that 'infringes'. After a few years, A's patent is granted and he (now a fairly large player) becomes aware of D (a very large player) and (because Y was released after he applied for the patent on X) sues. D, due to their ace-in-the-hole of B, cheerfully goes to court.
As far as A is concerned, he invented something, patented it, and is producing it.
As far as B is concerned, he invented something, but didn't bother patenting it. Doesn't matter, as his prior art should be enough to protect him against infringement claims.
As far as D is concerned, they are safe because of B's guarantee he won't patent it.
So then A sues D, after a long battle the patent gets invalidated, so who is to blame? Not A, he invented and patented the damn thing legally. Surely not B, he's taking the Benjamin Franklin (I think) approach. If B isn't to blame, I can't see a real reason that D is. Do you seriously expect C to scour the entire country himself to find B?
The correct answer would seem to be that if A and B came up with the invention, the patent should be invalid on grounds of obviousness, not prior art. But just because Newton and Liebnitz both wrote about calculus doesn't make their advances obvious. If math were patentable, and Liebnitz invalidated Newton's patent on integration, would you hold C responsible for not considering calculus obvious? Nobody in my example, I believe, "deserves" to lose a few billion. Various parties were simply unaware of each other.