
IPR Process Saves 80 Companies from Paying for a Sports-Motion Patent - DiabloD3
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/02/ipr-process-saves-80-companies-paying-sports-motion-patent
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jimrandomh
Why is the patent office approving so many patents on non-novel things? While
we don't get as much visibility into what they're rejecting, it seems like
they're a rubber-stamp factory and are offloading their job onto the courts.

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josaka
Not to suggest that they're perfect, but I wouldn't say they're a rubber
stamp. Only 1/5 patent apps is allowed in some art units:
[https://blog.juristat.com/2017/10/4/the-art-units-with-
the-h...](https://blog.juristat.com/2017/10/4/the-art-units-with-the-highest-
and-lowest-alice-allowance-rates)

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jccooper
Is anyone doing a dedicated or distributed prior art location project?
"Preissuance Third Party Submission" is a much easier way to dispose of bad
patents, done during the application stage, but it requires someone to notice
first. Seems like it would be a public good to challenge essentially all
patent applications.

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walterbell
You mean an open version of
[https://priorart.ip.com](https://priorart.ip.com)? It has even been difficult
to have an open, pubic database of US law.

If an open database existed, ML/AI and blockchain could reduce the burden of
finding affected parties to help challenge patent applications.

