It's January, Which Means Congress Promises Patent Reform That Will Never Come
from the like-swallows-returning-to-capistrano dept
Every January, it seems, we hear proclamations from Congress that this year (no, really!) will be the year that patent reform finally gets done. Of course, each year, when this proclamation is made, what comes out is a bill that is even more watered down than before and which will almost certainly make the system worse, not better. I have no doubt that this year will be more of the same. Senator Patrick Leahy, who has never met a form of intellectual property he couldn't make worse, has announced that patent reform is a priority this year. Chances are it will go nowhere again and that's a good thing. As is noted in the article, more and more politicians are actually recognizing that bad, half-baked, patent reform is worse than no reform at all. That's good. Of course, it doesn't mean that the patent system doesn't need reform, but at least we won't be dealing with patent reform that just makes a big mess even bigger.![Hide This Hide this](https://ii.techdirt.com/s/t/i/topclose.png)
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Filed Under: patents, patrick leahy, reform
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Please write a gigantic post offering an outline for your workable patent reform.
Beg Beg beg pretty please/
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How can we use patents and copyrights to progress the arts and sciences rather than the hodge modge of a clusterbunk that it's become through political maneuvering?
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Short of abolishing the patent system, here are some reforms that could would improve the current system
1)Eliminate software and business practice patents entirely. There are many reasons for this, but in my mind the fundamental problem is that software development and business practices progress at a speed that is much too fast for the patent process. Patents are designed for things that take years to develop and which will remain in demand for decades. Software and business practices are often developed in days or weeks and will probably be outdated by the time the patent period ends. Another reason for eliminating these types of patents is that they are choking the system, and examiners simply do not have the time or expertise to evaluate them.
2)Put the burden of proof on the patent holder when patents go to court. There is currently a presumption that the Patent Office has carefully examined the patent and found that its claims are valid. We have seen time and time again that this is not true. Examiners don't have time to adequately examine patents, often do not have expertise in the area, and they are subject to unending appeals and revisions from the applicant. So in effect we need to assume that a patent is not valid until it is vetted in court. This isn't how it should be if the patent system was working properly, but it isn't so the burden has to be shifted to the courts.
3)Invalidate patents automatically if the applicant fails to reveal prior art. This would have to be worked into regulations carefully, otherwise patent applications would start listing tons of irrelevant data to bury their revelation of prior art.
4)Allow the defendant move the case to a district where they have a legal presence. This would prevent venue shopping. The downside is that it could seriously damage the 4-H program in the eastern Texas.
5)Revise the patent approval process to take pressure off of examiners. Allow only written communication with examiners and prohibit phone calls or personal visits from applicants and their attorneys. The ability to significantly change the application after filing should also be restricted to a single resubmission to fix technical problems or answer questions raised by the examiner. When questioning the validity of a patent, the defendant should be able to question the approval process for the patent with revisions considered damaging to the quality of the patent.
6)Severely limit damage awards. It looks like we may be finally getting rid of the 25% rule; let's hope that it is replaced by something more rational.
7)Broaden the operational definitions of "obviousness."
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What I want to know is, what do you really think of Leahy?
Let me guess, the man could fuck up a wet dream.
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Last year I wrote a "gigantic" article for a magazine on how I would do patent reform, and the publisher spiked it, saying it was too long. I guess I can post that here. I'll dig it out and see what sort of shape it's in, as it may be a bit out of date.
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Piracy Coalition
For more than a decade, year after year and defeat after defeat members of the Piracy Coalition have been painting rosy predictions of passage of Patent Deform legislation in the near future.
On one side we have the Coalition for Patent Piracy & Fairness and the Coalition for 21st Century Patent Deform & HARMonization, collectively a very small number of very large companies who either never were serious inventors or who have lost their ability to produce significant inventions.
On the other side there are tens of thousands for companies who use patents to create new wealth, jobs and prosperity. We grow stronger and better organized every year. While the Piracy Cross Coalition will continue to invent propaganda and otherwise not invent much else, we will continue to deliver defeat after defeat.
Ronald J. Riley,
President - www.PIAUSA.org - RJR at PIAUSA.org
Other Affiliations:
Executive Director - www.InventorEd.org - RJR at InvEd.org
Senior Fellow - www.PatentPolicy.org
President - Alliance for American Innovation
Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder Paul Heckel
Washington, DC
Direct (202) 318-1595 - 9 am to 9 pm EST.
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Spiked for Incompetence
Ronald J. Riley,
President - www.PIAUSA.org - RJR at PIAUSA.org
Other Affiliations:
Executive Director - www.InventorEd.org - RJR at InvEd.org
Senior Fellow - www.PatentPolicy.org
President - Alliance for American Innovation
Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder Paul Heckel
Washington, DC
Direct (202) 318-1595 - 9 am to 9 pm EST.
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1) Limit patents to a 7-year period, with a one-off 3-year extension. However, grant them all automatically for a 90-day Grace period, pending investigations into obviousness and prior art.
2) If obviousness is found, the patent is rejected at the end of the period outright, with no appeal. If there is prior art, then it is rejected, with the right to appeal.
3) No patent trolling/patent tourism permitted. In the case of patent trolling, you forfeit all your current patents. For patentr tourism, just the patent in question.
4) Damages limited to provable losses. Note that this is NOT one infrimgement=one lost sale.
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Re: Piracy Coalition
Use patents to create new wealth ? I thought they used new inventions for that.
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Re: Spiked for Incompetence
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Re: Piracy Coalition
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Re: Piracy Coalition
Who runs out of debates when he's losing...
Who ridicules people for no other reason than he has no leg to stand on...
Who ignores the information in front of him...
And who wants constantly promotes a website and agenda that truly does more harm to an inventor than good.
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Re: Spiked for Incompetence
Guess what, it doesn't work.
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Re: Re: Spiked for Incompetence
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Re: Re: Piracy Coalition
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Re: Piracy Coalition
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You can now be proud to say that you live in a country where everything has been protected and there is now no room for innovation or creativity. You are now protected. You are now covered.
It feeels ssooooo goooood.
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Re: Spiked for Incompetence
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Re: Piracy Coalition
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The end result? 20 years from now, the US will likely be begging countries like China and Russia to provide them IP, because the US companies stopped being able to afford to do it.
Congrats to TD. A new year, the same old whine.
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Re: Re: Piracy Coalition
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Where is this particular attitude always coming from?
"IP" is not corn, or precious metals or vats of chemicals.
Its a kludge of different government monopoly systems and lawyer-feeding restriction engines.
How will "US companies stop being able to afford" a system that would hopefully become less restrictive and costly?
Is your problem that "Those Dang Red Chinee an' Ruskies is gonna steal all the really good ideas"?
pssst.. little secret. They are pretending to follow our lead on the patent road to self destruction because we are showing them what a wonderful blunt instrument it is.
Strip away the magical candy shell of "Intellectual Property" (which is only rarely intellectual and usually has nothing at all to do with actual property) and address the issues that are crippling us, or else we Will be licensing everything from china. Not because they invented it, but because our own broken system is an invitation to eventual ruin.
Congrats to anonymous coward. A new year, the same old lies.
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Re: Spiked for Incompetence
Methinks you doth protest too much.
Oh, and you must be joking with that signature. Do you really believe that any of us here believe that you are all that important when you spend half of your day trolling TechDirt's forums?
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Re: Re: Piracy Coalition
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FIRST TIME HOPEFULLY NOT LAST -- HOORAY!!!
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