On Thu, 30 Oct 2003 01:26:03 -0800, Jeff wrote:
snippage: patents

Patents are becoming a real problem in the technology field. So many
patents with very little merit are being allowed to pass.

The intent of the patent system is to encourage innovation by granting
temporary monopolies. But the invention must be novel, and not obvious
to someone ordinary skilled in the art amongst other things.

The trouble is many software patents don't meet this test. This Acacia
one is just one of hundreds that are making software developers sigh
all over the world (well, all over the USA at least). Amazon, for
example, have a patent on buying stuff with one click - something
that is so obvious that many many web developers have simultaneously
and independently 'invented' it. Just Amazon patented it first, and
the patent examiners aren't sufficiently skilled (and don't have
sufficient time) to see that it's obvious to someone ordinarily
skilled in the art - or that it has prior art. Unfortunately once
a patent has been granted, it is so expensive to get it thrown out
that most companies choose to roll over like giant twinkies and
cough up the licensing money. Patents in the software world, far
from encouraging innovation, are stifling innovation. Not because
the patent laws are bad, but because the USPTO are more or less
rubber stamping obvious 'inventions'. It's virtually impossible
to write a program - even a simple shell script - without infringing
a meritless software patent.

At least the issue seems to be getting a bit of airtime outside the
software world now - and maybe some pressure will be forthcoming
to make it easier to throw out bad patents and raise the bar on
what can be patented.

Now European countries are headed down the same insane route. Let's
hope that patent offices in Europe hire people who can see obvious
things and throw them out, but I hold out very little hope indeed.

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"