Re: IBM bathroom patent symbolic of US patent ills

["John J. Bengii" <nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The US Patent Office and system is a crock of shit. This is like the USA
building a Great Wall of China around itself for technology and the USA will
eventually be left behind in the tech world.

There is only one prerequisite for a patent to be approved in the USA...did
they apply? This has been proven in many patent infringement suits in the
USA to date. If you contest an Intellectual Patent, once they look at it,
they overturn it. This is typical of spending the 4-5 hours on each case.
They don't know Jack about the product.


"Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:dq6dnQYp_Zg5anbanZ2dnUVZ_hSdnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxx
> There's an interesting article in Arstechnica about patents:
>
> http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080327-uspto-boss-ibm-bathroom-patent
> -symbolic-of-us-patent-ills.html   aka  http://tinyurl.com/2ewrpr
>
> Here are some "fair use" snippets:
>
> << On August 14, 2000, IBM filed a patent on "an apparatus, system, and
> method for providing reservations for restroom use." . . .  (IBM) is
> routinely at or near the top of the heap when it comes to number of US
> patents obtained in a given year.   . . . Wall Street loves it when
> companies file patents, since patent numbers can be used as an easy proxy
> for innovation and R&D work . . . also make it easier to strike
> cross-licensing agreements with other companies .
>
> These things don't "promote innovation," . . . The result has been
> predictable; a surge in bad applications. Over the last 40 years, the
> USPTO
> granted 62-72 percent of all patent applications, but that number has been
> dropping. In the first quarter of this year, only 43 percent of
> applications
> have been granted.
>
> The problem might be fixed by raising the barrier to filing an
> application,
> possibly by raising the price (one government official proposed a $50,000
> fee per application), >>
>
>
>
> Sounds like a $50,000 fee would be the death knell for small business
> innovation!
>
> --
> Bobby G.
>
>
>