Patently Stupid

from the Information-Wants-To-Be-Imprisoned dept

Some software makers are arguing that the US patent and trademark office (USPTO) should not be the only agency that determines whether or not software is patentable. The case is being brought up now that Maz Technologies is suing a bunch of companies for infringing on their encryption/decryption patent. The defendents say that the patent should not have been granted in the first place and that the USPTO is ill-suited to determine patentability in technical fields. I would say the USPTO is incapable of examining any patent application when I see ridiculous inventions like this one which proves that the USPTO is a joke. In the end, I'm not sure it matters how incompetent the USPTO is as long as we can rely on the courts to make fair decisions.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    Brandon, 11 Apr 2002 @ 2:08pm

    Re: the court is fair

    How about because not all of us have a couple thousand dollars to waste proving someone's patent is ridiculous when they sue us over it?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    mhh5, 11 Apr 2002 @ 5:19pm

    Re: the court is fair

    Well, the way I see it is: (1) yes, it's horrible that the USPTO can't judge what should be patented for themselves, (2) however, it's somewhat good that even "obvious" inventions are patented so that the information is made public (and not lost in some obscure journal). And hopefully the court will make all the lawyer fees payable by the party suing frivolously....


    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.