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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" |
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