Hooray...
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| dinotrac May 27, 2006 4:29 AM EDT |
Thing that really caught my eye was the PutPAT comment that 70% of the patents re-examined are modified or revoked. Youch! That's a lotta bad patents out there. It's a shame some very expensive action isn't available for the failure to disclose prior art. Until something like that happens, companies won't have sufficient incentive to be honest because bad patents are just as valuable as good patents until caught. Patents are for a term of years anyway. With a bad patent, you just take the risk that the term will be a little shorter than usual. |
| grouch May 27, 2006 7:02 AM EDT |
dinotrac: >"It's a shame some very expensive action isn't available for the failure to disclose prior art." As I understand it, there is such action available but it is just not used. |
| dinotrac May 27, 2006 7:38 AM EDT |
grouch - Hmmmm....patent law was never an area of strength for me. Maybe I'll have to bone up a bit. |
| grouch May 27, 2006 8:19 AM EDT |
dinotrac: I remember an article somewhere recently that talked about how rare it was that anyone was prosecuted for filing a bad patent application. If I can dig up that link, I'll post it here. Sorry, I can't remember the details of the statute or regulation. |
| grouch May 27, 2006 8:31 AM EDT |
dinotrac: Found it. "Reports from the USPTO Meeting - Updated" http://www.groklaw.net/articlebasic.php?story=20060218124455... You can search for "perjury" on that page to get a quick idea of one penalty that doesn't seem to be applied to bad patent applicants. |
| dinotrac May 27, 2006 8:38 AM EDT |
Thanks. |
| hkwint May 27, 2006 9:25 AM EDT |
Yes, strange stuff is happening out there. Yesterday (I believe) the European Commission told software patents are not valid, and may be invalidated via civil law. I also remember the highest American court invalidating some patents. It seems like it ain't a good idea anymore to start a patent troll tommorow. Darnit, there goes my last chance to become millionaire without working! |
| mvermeer May 27, 2006 12:12 PM EDT |
hkwint: some business ideas for you. 1) Become an analyst 2) Become a "journalist" 3) Start a think tank Be warned, it isn't nearly as much fun as what you're doing now... |
| dek May 27, 2006 3:15 PM EDT |
>1) Become an analyst
>2) Become a "journalist" Steven Vaughn-Nichols isn't too bad of a model if you wanna go that way. One of the few tech analysts I have respect for -- and he has fun with it, too. Anybody up for starting a stink (oops freudian slip) -- THINK tank? ;-) Don K. |
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