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White House Takes Steps Against Patent Trolls
itwbennett writes "The Obama administration on Thursday launched a website with information to assist people and businesses targeted in patent lawsuits or receiving patent demand letters. The White House also announced that it would launch a new crowdsourcing initiative focused on identifying prior art (evidence of existing inventions) that the USPTO can use to reject bad patent claims and will expand a USPTO patent examiner technical training program by allowing outside technologists to help with the training."
You mean something like patents.stackexchange.com?
Nope. Maybe you should take a look before opening your yap?
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
this is Bureaucratic solution, and it is is not a solution
He could start by telling the Patent Office to stop rewarding examiners based on issuing patents and more on the quality of decisions.
S he does good things, and the you bitch?
And then you wrap it up with what is clearly a lack of understanding about the trade agreements.
It's not him, it's you. You are stupid, and you are just looking fore excuses.
The fact that nearly every thing people complain about him is false tells me he must be doing something right.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Prior Art is now irrelevant, because we've switched from "first to invent" to "first to file."
It doesn't matter who invents it first anymore, and therefore prior art is irrelevant.
Why "nope"? Stackexchange seems like a great (crowdsourced) medium for exactly this. Already a patent application has been struck down thanks to prior art discovered via that site.
On the one hand we have patent trolls, and on the other we have a large fleet of drones armed with hellfire missiles. Seems like somewhere in the middle should be a solution!
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Ask Patents was created at the behest of the USPTO. Presumably they get some financial support in exchange but the USPTO is self-funded so no slush fund adventures are needed.
I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
Originally patents were for 13 years with one renewal by the original Person that applies and copyright was for 17 years with one renewal by the original Person that applies.
Go back to that and all the problems disappear.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
They need to do something about Apple and Microsoft...while not "trolls" in the strict definition of the word (since they do actually make things), they are still 2 of the biggest abusers of the system!
Even Mao did something right from time to time.
From TFA:
My new business plan:
1. File completely bogus patents
2. Wait for them to expire
3. Sue everyone!
BRB, patenting this business model...
There are other such sites as well...
http://www.crowdsourcing.org/n...
http://www.patexia.com/contest...
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/share/patents
Of course the USPTO is aware of this as mentioned in their 2012 press release...
Here's an excerpt from the WH press release...
Today, the USPTO is announcing that it is exploring a series of measures to make it easier for the public to provide information about relevant prior art in patent applications, including by refining its third-party submission program, exploring other ways for the public to submit prior art to the agency, and updating its guidance and training to empower examiners to more effectively use crowd-sourced prior art.
The mere collection of this information, although important, is not what is being addressed here. The USPTO has a complex procedure in place to insert 3rd party information into a patent file for consideration by the examiner. Basically you can only submit other patents or papers (no explanations, analysis, comments, instructions, protest or wild-ass-diatribes allowed). There is also a time window, specific forms and a submission fee and a requirement that the submission be directed at a specific pending patent and limited to 10 items.
Of course the examiner is somewhat free to consider third party resources (like AskPatents), but they are often leery of doing so as third-party participation in the examining process is strictly regulated by statute. AFAIK, this is because examiners aren't supposed to consider pre-publication protests or other opposition in determining the validity of a patent application, only technical information, not opinions of others (like competitor companies or people with axes to grind).
Hopefully, this initiative will streamline the process of getting them relevant technical information w/o the inevitable chaff that tends to go along with crowdsourcing sites. Just because a document gets uploaded to a crowdsourcing site doesn't mean it's a legitimate document. Some people have an agenda, ya know...
Why "nope"? Stackexchange seems like a great (crowdsourced) medium for exactly this.
Maybe he was implying that a web site from the Obama administration would be more like healthcare.gov, not exactly great or useful.
He does good things, and the you bitch?
Obama could buy everyone in America free donuts and this site would find a way to complain about it.
Thank you for the incredibly literate, well thought out response. Indeed, it is pithy comments like this that have led to me not bothering to log into slashdot anymore.
...no ban on intuitively obvious software patents? No ban on trivial business process patents? No legal fees to victims winning lawsuits against patent trolls? Sounds like more political theater to me.
I can't decide if that's a great point or off the mark.
The patent office bureaucracy has approved a bunch of bad patents.Improving
that bureaucratic process may well improve the results. On the other hand:
We can not solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.
Albert Einstein
Perhaps a bold, strong new leader at the patent office who did a lot of new things, including soliciting public comment, could make a big difference. Someone like Robert Gates, for example, could probably greatly improve things without any fundamental changes to the underlying law. Just ACTUALLY deny patents where there is prior art, etc.
Nope. Maybe you should take a look before opening your yap?
Kindly put down your ideological/political biases for a moment... as sibling mentioned, the site is a perfect analog for what Obama is proposing.
From what I see, I find it strange that the President would have his staff put out a website, instead of, you know, trying to talk to the Senate about putting something forward to rectify the patent mess. After all, his party does dominate the Senate side of Congress, and I bet it wouldn't be that hard to get folks from among the opposition to join in. What, you ask? Glad you asked: For instance, there was once a rule that you had to present a working physical model of your idea to the USPTO before it could be patented... so why not reinstate that?
Hell - he doesn't even need to involve Congress: Why not issue an executive order to have the USPTO define a patentable idea as something with a physical basis as a critical portion of the proposed patent. Why not have the USPTO put an automatic 18-24 month hold on all inbound software patents? Lots of options open to him... but a website that someone else has already implemented to do the same thing? Makes no sense, and has a danger of diluting the whole reason for having such a website in the first place.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
You are stupid, and you are just looking fore excuses.
The fact that nearly every thing people complain about him is false tells me he must be doing something right.
1) How the frig did this ever get modded "Insightful"?
2) define "nearly every thing".
There's many more, but seriously, put the koolaid down. The man isn't a demon, but he certainly isn't a messiah.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
Isn't the first lady's big thing getting sweets banned?
No. That would be the Rush Limbaugh version of what she's been doing. In reality, she promotes exercise for kids.
He's done a lot about the NSA, hasn't he.
and stagnating innovaton, say it aint so...
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
It's unfortunate that the USPTO's new director and the White House are not taking aim at patent trolls specifically, but rather trying to deal with them by revamping the criteria for patentability in general. Patent trolls are bad enough that they ought to be treated as a first class problem. Even if it became next to impossible to patent prior art, trolls would still end up getting such patents and prevent companies from building things until they pay up. Maybe something like "You can't file a patent lawsuit unless you have a legitimate product based on the inventions described in the patent."
Yes it would be a diabolical communistic liberal plot to give every god fearing red blooded American diabetes to make them dependent on the government and make government larger.
That's all Obama ever does, that is make government bigger. Obama is responsible for the massive increase in Federal spending, even under the Bush years. He's especially responsible for the financial meltdown started during the second Bush term that was triggered by financial deregulation passed by a veto proof margin of a completely republican controlled congress during the Clinton years.And he's liberal, and we all know Liberal is bad bad bad. And he's so liberal he's just one step from being Karl Marx himself. And the lead singer of Korn told me he single handily wrote legislation that gives him the power to kill any american he wants and no republican was involved in the passage of that bill. And before I forget, he created (and only he created) the TSA to make sure he can personally fondle grannies and little kids and he plans to use the TSA to seize permanent control of the US!
Obama is responsible for the massive increase in Federal spending, even under the Bush years.
The President has no authority over Federal spending. Congress does. The President submits a budget proposal. Congress throws that in the garbage and creates an actual budget. Once passed by both houses, the President cannot realistically veto it.
Apparently GP forgot the <SARCASM> tags.
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
Obama is responsible for the massive increase in Federal spending, even under the Bush years.
The President has no authority over Federal spending....
Man, that's the loudest WHOOOSH I've heard in a while.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
You know who else "focused on identifying prior art"? Hitler.
This is just more of Obama's Communism, as he tries to destroy America because he hates everyone but himself. Or something. I think it has to do with making Kenya better by comparison, but I'm waiting for Fox News to update me on this.
And you seem unable to connect the dots. I'm with His Holiness on this one.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
I was joking obviously, but no, that's simply incorrect. She outlines her agenda in a document about 20 pages long entitled "summary of recommendations". You'll notice the word "food" appears four times as often as the word "exercise". In fact, she mentions "screen time" as often as she mentions exercise.
Her agenda items include "the federal government should pursue actionable items [to create] food boards ... set food policy". Whether you agree with her or not, her stated mission is to have the federal government decide what you eat and what you don't, see to it that you eat healthly food. Maybe that's what Washington should be doing, maybe it's not. It's absolutely what Mrs. Obama is seeking to have Washington do. Go read her web site.
S he does good things, and the you bitch?
What the fuck does that even mean?
"the federal government should pursue actionable items [to create] food boards ... set food policy"
That means things like "Public schools shouldn't serve pizza and french fries every day". Mine did. It does not mean "Pizza should be banned from existence".
Doh. I didn't read past the sentence I quoted- which I see spouted in earnest every day on this site. I thought they meant to write "even more than under the Bush years" and fucked it up because they're stupid.
Oh well.
You know, a few years ago it was kinda "unheard" of that the major corps would go at each other for patent issues, due to a sort of weird MAD scenario. Everyone would cross-license and be done with it. But with the latest rounds of patent cases, you'd think the companies would start hiring small armies of researchers to not only investigate entire portfolios of their competition, but also their competitions' applications for new patents.
If you were me, you'd be good lookin'. - six string samurai
Typos. Bad grammars. Calling someone stupid. What's not to love?
But -- hey -- let's mod a political screed up because it responds to another political screed. Protip: A true artisan can pants a political screed without gutter diving and name calling.
Priest: "Universe from nothing, no laws of physics, sped up time"+ huge discrepancies. Creationism? No. Big Bang Theory
"Obama could buy everyone in America free donuts"
With 10% of the USA on food stamps, you are jackass for not thinking Obama ISN'T buying everyone donuts.
He IS buying everyone DONUTS!
Priest: "Universe from nothing, no laws of physics, sped up time"+ huge discrepancies. Creationism? No. Big Bang Theory
First, props to the uber cool username. I like it! And you musta had style even back in the 1990s with that Slashdot id.
That being said, you don't remember Michelle Obama trying to make sure kids aren't fattying up with cookies, potato chips and french fries at lunch?
And fruck you for not saying "Gee -- yeah she did that because kids should eat a healthy lunch" --- instead you puss out and deny it -- instead of doing the right thing and defend it.
Weak.
Priest: "Universe from nothing, no laws of physics, sped up time"+ huge discrepancies. Creationism? No. Big Bang Theory
Okay so you crapped your pants but no one said you needed to do it in public.
Get some respect, man.
Priest: "Universe from nothing, no laws of physics, sped up time"+ huge discrepancies. Creationism? No. Big Bang Theory
Michelle Obama trying to make sure kids aren't fattying up with cookies, potato chips and french fries at lunch?
The lunch served at public schools with federal money. You think that's equivalent to "getting sweets banned"?
http://blog.prevalent.de/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/10-steps-to-improve-the-patent-system.pdf
So they basically went for a "feel good" solution with ZERO teeth that's only purpose is to duplicate functionality in the patent challenge space already fulfilled by other, better run sites that DON'T have to deal with government bullshit and won't fold the second a sufficiently large donation is made?
Yup. That's pretty much OhBlahBlah's entire presidency in microcosm there.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
1. Technically qualified personal should review patents for technical things
2. Lawyers should review patents for legal things
3. More than a single person should review scientific parts
4. Don’t ignore any source of prior art
5. Force common vocabulary where possible
6. Make clear where the invention starts and ends
7. Pay attention whether the invention really is technical
8. Same money for applied and denied patents for the patent office
9. Make the patent office liable for bad prior art research
10. How many steps of concatenation make up a ‘new invention’?
You can download the complete paper here: http://blog.prevalent.de/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/10-steps-to-improve-the-patent-system.pdf
I find it ironic that you're calling people stupid for not falling in line lock in step with corporate culture because they've been brainwashed by the media owned by that corporate culture.
I see your point, but I gotta agree with others, given the success of the Healthcare website or the pockmark of the petition website, I don't hold out much hope for a government organized anything. The man has been in office 5+ years, if he is successful in this, it will only be the second thing he has EVER done that makes a desireable difference for the people. Getting off the ridiculous Marijuana mantra would be the first. At least we can start keeping dangerous offenders IN prison instead of putting them on probation to make bed-space for potheads. This has taken HOW MANY YEARS, since it was made illegal to satisfy the paper and cotton industries of the early 20th century?
Two things in 5 years and I'm still can't my breath on either.
*Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
hold, hold my breath...
*Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
They have the temerity to ask the public to combat the effects of a completely rampant patent system they created themselves?
In effect, they're telling you "please do the work the patent office should have done in the first place". Real nice.
"The more prohibitions there are, The poorer the people will be" -- Lao Tse
Kind of ironic you should be calling other people stupid when you can't spell "for"....
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
Hey, so they want to make another site just like https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/ with the same level of support, feedback, and quality of response, correct? /sarcasm>
Hmm, the humour and sarcasm seem to have been be lost on you.
I don't think you know the meaning of the word "really". It implies a fact. When your post is a hate-fueled diatribe of gloating over some self declared win that only you can perceive, it really takes any chance of doing anything other than alienating people whom, I'm guessing you'd like to see your point of view, and flushes it away. Perhaps...and this is just a thought, you may not want to insult those with whom your opinions differ, tone down your rhetoric so you at least appear to not be a sociopath and troll, and actually add something to the conversation instead of typical right wing propaganda. Spelling the name of the person with whom you politically disagree is plainly childish and makes you seem like you are too stupid and thick skulled to read.
It is a pity voting (in our system especially, damn math!) results in 'who do I hate the least?' decision making.
It's not just right wing trolls. Moms, Dads, the Postman, the old lady down the block, everyone hates the Democrats. Don't feel bad though, they hate the Republicans and don't trust the Libertarians and righteously so.
Where the hell do you live, that your family and neighbors are all so keenly aware? Everywhere I've been, you have one big group of drooling idiots who treat their party like a friggin' sports team and never put any thought beyond what some PR drone tells them to think. I want to live where you live.
School lunches are a big part, yes. Also her proposals include things like having the FCC limit advertising of foods that the government considers to be suboptimal choices. There's a lot of food related stuff, more food related than exercise related.
Personally , I think the local school should serve healthy food. I'm glad that decades ago the FDA started putting out guidance, suggestions, that assist local school districts with healthy menu planning. I don't see any need for local citizens to pay $10,000 in taxes to Washington, who takes their cut before sending $7,000 to the state, who takes their cut before sending $5,000 back to the local area. Federal bureaucracy to buy lunch is just silly.
It's also the local dieticians who are best able to work with local needs and tastes. Here in Texas, kids will eat burritos, they won't eat fish and chips. I bet in Massachusetts it's the other way around. Federal bureaucrats making more menu decisions for local schools isn't going to work too well, I don't think.
> Obama could buy everyone in America free donuts and this site would find a way to complain about it.
He could also close Gitmo, but there's no way he'll do either of those things.
He does good things, and the you bitch?
Obama could buy everyone in America free donuts and this site would find a way to complain about it.
Obama could buy everyone in America free donuts and this site would find a way to complain about it.
Free donuts may cause weight problems and increase health care costs.
Also how will dunkn donuts compete with free donuts being handed out by the government, think of the job loss.
Perhaps we need price supports for the oat farmers to compensate for lost revenue.
Who gets to decided what type of donut? Do beignets count?
Are there going to be no-bid contracts awarded for the making of donuts?
Unionize the workers, or make companies involved with donuts implement new federal contract minimum wage of $10.10/hr.
Need a have USDA work on a standard grading scheme for donuts (analogous to catsup).
Must appropriate money to revise the recently revised USDA "competitive food standards" disallowing most donuts provided to school children (even if free).
Are GM ingredients being used?
What type of fat? Corn-oil? Lard?
Are they Kosher? Are they Halal? How do we respect all religions? Are "noodlie" appendage donuts allowed?
What about gluten free? Are we discriminating against these people?
Can't use red sprinkles, they are made from bug parts (think of the vegetarians and vegans).
How about the sugar, is it real sucrose, or HFCS, or *gasp* one of the artificial sweeteners that cause cancer!
Government contract should specify the used oil be recycled for alternative fuel vehicles.
1000 page bill needs to be passed w/o reading followed by 12M words of regulations need to be generated by the executive branch...
How to reconcile this policy with Michelle's Let's Move initiative?
Maybe the 1% should pay for their own damn donuts...
Yeah, these are a few reasons why the government shouldn't get involved with give-aways (donuts or otherwise).
Sometimes the government should just do less...
The USPTO does not provide a single link for inventors or companies who have developed and patented technology to defend their rights. Not one. These types of entities deserve some sort of guidance as well.
> You have no idea what you're talking about.
Then you're trying so hard to defend stupid that you've made yourself dense.
According to your link, US citizens send $2.9 trillion to Washington, who sends $500 billion to states, who send $100 billion back to the same localities it came from.
If that seems like a good idea to you, I've got something you'll love. I'm sure you'll get excited about this. You send me$1,000 and I'll send $250 of it to my wife, who will send $100 to you! Yay, you get $100! I'll pm my address to you.
Obama could buy everyone in America free donuts and this site would find a way to complain about it.
The USA has an obesity epidemic, and you want the government handing out highly caloric food with little or no nutritional value?
I don't dislike the democrats. With Republicans, the number of forclosures would have been 20 times worse. Republicans would have let the car industry die, then let the employee. benefits be wiped out,and then purchase the remains at ten cents on the dollar.
Its too bad that the Republicans blocked most of the best legislation in Congress.
It is too bad that lobbyists representing big financial interests sway the lawmakers to vote partially.
Yeah but together they've driven us to the brink of shit over the last century. Who did what is kinda irrelevant, because what one doesn't the other will given a far too short amount of time . So therefore their assumptions about foreign policy, economy, Nat'l debt mean shit as well. Everyone who isn't focusing on their shoelaces and can see past the horseshit fed us,is waiting for the levy to break.So what can I say kind about either? Not a fucking thing. Maybe I hope they get leprous syphilitic sores on their internal hemorrhoids. But, I'm a humanitarian.
*Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
A vote for M.Mouse, Bozo T. Clown (who incidentally got the most votes of all in the 70s/80s) J.R.Bob Dobbs and others is a vote your conscience will give you a beer for later.
*Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
Oh, just get in your car and drive where houses are only one or two stories and don't look alike. The rest are just Hollywood sets for Movies and Nightly News programs.
*Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!