IBM bathroom patent symbolic of US patent ills

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

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.