

Politicians and Pundits Make Some Noise About Patent Reform - grellas
http://www.law.com/jsp/cc/PubArticleCC.jsp?id=1202509677556

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nextparadigms
_"Right now, Congress can send me a bill that would make it easier for
entrepreneurs to patent a new product or idea—because we can't give innovators
in other countries a big leg up when it comes to opening new businesses and
creating new jobs."_

 _Sigh_. He's going in _completely_ the wrong direction. If anything patents
(at least software ones) should be _harder_ to get, not easier. Obama seems
clueless about this, but I don't really blame him for not realizing this. He's
probably just bending his ear to the wrong people/lobbyists.

And what's with that nonsense about innovators in other countries. What does
that have to do with the US patent system? Is he saying people are not
building start-ups right now because they can't get patents? If anything they
can't hire enough people because they have to spend them on "patent
infringement lawsuits", and some of them are even leaving the country to start
their businesses there, because of these lawsuits. Making it easier and faster
for patent trolls to get patents will only make this worse. Obama actually
sounds like he's reciting someone else's line here.

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apotheon
I think the patent system should be sped up a lot -- but only for the process
of _denying_ patents. We certainly don't need to ease and accelerate the
process of _granting_ them. These idiots who think that speeding up patent
grants will create jobs are completely out of touch. If anything, making it
faster and easier to get patents will eliminate jobs by increasing the
hostility of many industries (especially software) to actual innovators by
putting more power in the hands of the largest, most stagnant firms in the
business.

> "Obama seems clueless about this, but I don't really blame him for not
> realizing this. . . . Obama actually sounds like he's reciting someone
> else's line here."

That sounds like a _great_ reason to blame Obama.

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monochromatic
Examination in general should be sped up, and that goes for allowing as well
as rejecting. It doesn't do anybody any good for a real technological
innovation to languish on an examiner's desk for four years.

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nhebb
The bottom line is, you're not going to get legal reform out of a bunch of
lawyers (i.e. Congress, and in this case, the President).

