Against Monopoly
defending the right to innovate
Patents (General)
Monopoly corrupts. Absolute monopoly corrupts absolutely.
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Is the patent system broken?
Is the patent system broken? You be the judge. Here is a case of several examples of prior art that were not caught by the Patent and Trademark Office and are now giving rise to a patent suit by Verizon against Vonage, closing it down for a period and threatening it over the long run link here. Even with the evidence, Verizon's patent will need to be declared invalid, a procedure that may take a long time and cost Vonage money it doesn't have and business it is now unlikely to get.
[Posted at 04/25/2007 06:00 PM by John Bennett on Patents (General) 
comments(0)]
More on the Patent Reform Act
David posted about the draft Patent Reform Act, just introduced in the Congress, as I was about to. Another source is link here with its own comments. I quote: "The provisions of the Patent Reform Act would... restrict damages that patent holders can receive for infringement lawsuits, create a new procedure to challenge the validity of a patent after it has been granted, and boost resources for the US Patent and Trademark Office."
"The corporate roster of backers includes Microsoft, IBM, Amazon, and nearly everyone else. Similar legislation failed to pass during the last session of Congress. Other groups, including the pharmaceutical industry and small inventors, have opposed major changes to the patent system."
The special interests gather at the trough. If we have to have patents, this may be a modest improvement. But don't count on it. More important, watch what gets attached to the bill as it wends it leisurely way through the legislative process and the tasty tidbits are on offer.
[Posted at 04/22/2007 05:35 PM by John Bennett on Patents (General) comments(0)]
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