

And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Patent Trolls - WildUtah
http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/2011/01/and-you-will-know-us-by-the-trail-of-patent-trolls/

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rst
The funny thing is that we're not the first nation to try an IP-based strategy
towards monetizing its scientific know-how. Post-World-War-II Britain had all
sorts of stuff going on: the first passenger jet aircraft (the de Havilland
Comet), lots of early computer work (the Manchester group in particular
invented index registers and the most reliable RAM technology before core; the
LEO was the first machine actually used by a business), and even Watson,
Crick, and Rosalind Franklin doing DNA. But rather than trying to foster
businesses built around these innovations, the government instead pursued a
strategy of trying to monetize licenses for them.

There's a book from MIT Press which describes how this went in the computer
field in particular. It's a very dry read, but it's one of these things where
the title tells the tale: "Innovating for Failure".

MIT Press page here:
[http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?tid=6166...](http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?tid=6166&ttype=2)

~~~
sachinag
I didn't know there was precedent for the moronic positions of most university
tech transfer offices. Ah, humans: making the same mistakes, over and over
again.

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WildUtah
You can see how very far we are from any kind of sensible patent reform here.
Yglesias seems to understand, but check the comments.

The general progressive public is still entriely under the illusion of the
patent bar. They really believe PTO would never allow you to patent
mathematical laws, algorithms, laws of nature, business processes, obvious
extensions of established methods, well-known existing practices, and all the
other corruptions common in software patents. Quite a lot of them argue that
such abuses must not exist because there are supposedly rules against them.

~~~
kiba
When you create laws to regulate an industry, the first thing that will happen
is that the law itself will be brought by said industry.

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ck2
Actually, the line that struck me from last night's speech is how the
President expressed his belief (with a careless laugh) there will be no "pat
downs" on high speed rails vs airports, when the reality is they are already
doing it at some bus stations and seaports (not to mention how he thinks they
are just simple "pat downs").

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZdEmjtF6HE&feature=playe...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZdEmjtF6HE&feature=player_detailpage#t=1696s)

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOv8Zh3OvSg>

But that's a topic for another thread I guess.

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gaurav_v
My favorite example of the broken patent system is United States Patent
6368227: Method of swinging on a swing.

Abstract: "A method of swing on a swing is disclosed, in which a user
positioned on a standard swing suspended by two chains from a substantially
horizontal tree branch induces side to side motion by pulling alternately on
one chain and then the other."

Link: <http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6368227.html>

And some news coverage: [http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2178-boy-takes-
swing-a...](http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2178-boy-takes-swing-at-us-
patents.html)

~~~
rst
My own pet example is the peanut butter and jelly sandwich patent, which the
J.M. Smucker corporation really and truly did sue to enforce:
[http://www.ipfrontline.com/depts/article.aspx?id=14617&d...](http://www.ipfrontline.com/depts/article.aspx?id=14617&deptid=3#)

That link is to a pro-patent website which notes that Smucker failed to
enforce the patent (against a grocer from Michigan), after multiple rounds of
reexamination, and concludes, of course, that the! system! works! Strangely,
they fail to mention the amount of money and time lost to the grocer in
fighting Smuckers's overreach...

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BrandonM
Reading the title, I was really excited thinking this was going to be a
Boondock-Saints-esque vigilante justice mission against patent trolls.
Needless to say, I was sorely disappointed after clicking through.

