Patent Office Changing With The Times

from the a-bit-late,-but-still-better-than-nothing dept

Apparently, the patent office has finally realized that they've been approving a ton of ridiculous patents, and are working on fixing their own process. They say that fewer and fewer patents are being approved these days. The head of the patent office is even quoted as saying, "it is hurting technology. It is hurting our economy." He also points out that most of the ridiculous patents people complain about were granted a few years ago, suggesting that the patent office may have already started improving its process for weeding out silly patents. I actually don't think that's true. The famous case of the patent for swinging on a swing was just awarded a few months ago.
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
    Phillip, 17 Oct 2002 @ 4:27am

    EU

    Talking about patenting software (where many silly patents lie), not only has the UK decided against software being patentable but the new EU Directive also states that software isn't patentable (hence making this law in every EU country). It goes further and says that all current software patents in all EU countries will have to be revoked.

    Phillip.

    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.