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US Shutdown Is Good News For Patent Trolls

Posted by samzenpus on from the nothing's-going-to-slow-us-down dept.

judgecorp writes "It's just a sidebar on the US government shutdown but, while agencies including NASA and NIST are displaying blank websites, the US Patent and Trademark Office is running as normal because its funding is guaranteed by the US Constitution. Thus, patent trolls can continue to file bogus business patents, while the FTC is closed and can't combat them, and the Department of Justice can't handle appeals and enforcement."

3 of 84 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Speculation, Not News by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    EXACTLY!

    The reason the Patent Office is open is because they are self-funding not because it's funding is guaranteed. It, also, makes money for the government. There however is only a limited amount of time they can remain open until reserve funds run out and it shuts down.

  2. Re:terrorists and traitors by TapeCutter · · Score: 4, Interesting

    In the Westminster system the same dead locked funding scenario is called a "double dissolution". It's a constitutional trigger for a general election, the theory being that if the government of the day can't get their agenda funded by a hostile senate, then we pick a new government/senate that can at least keep the fucking lights on. What's the point of electing a bunch of public servants if they stubbornly insist on derailing the delivery of public services?

    --
    And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
  3. It's legitimate by fritsd · · Score: 4, Interesting

    In other democracies, it's an uncommon but perfectly legitimate thing that a member of parliament can write a motion to send the government home.

    It's called a "Vote of No Confidence". *IF* that vote passes, the government falls.

    The reason why it's uncommon is as follows: that MP or political party is saying "We must disregard the will of the majority of the people who elected this government. we don't care about our jobs and the jobs of the other parliamentarians we currently have. This issue is so important that we are willing to overrule everything to ensure the government can't enact this law: "over our dead bodies". If that means that the people won't trust us anymore and stop voting for us for 12 years, so be it. This issue is more important than us being ever re-elected again."

    IOW, it's a good thing that this mechanism exists to contain excesses, but in a normal democracy it has a price

    --
    To be, or not to be: isn't that quite logical, Slashdot Beta?