Patent Office chief endorses legal reform

This won't fix things: Rather, it will just make them worse. "paper shops" will start getting patents for things they didn't invent just so they can shake down businesses who can't afford the legal fees.

Some things that might actually help:

1. Reduce the time that a software patent is valid to something like 5 years. That's a long time with current technology advances.

2. Limit by law the damages for a patent violation to the purchase price of a competing product. IE, if company A gets a patent for widget W, and company B then makes a widget X that infringes, the damages must be limited (at the upper end) to the price of widget W x the number of widget X'es sold. Furthermore, if widget W and widget X do not perform the same function (and aren't in competition with each other) or the patent holder doesn't incorporate the technology into something they sell, then they can't sue for infringement. This will stop companies from basing their revenue model on licensing patents and return the model to companies doing research for things they actually plan on producing themselves.; Posted by: wizard_of_oz Posted on: 04/26/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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Bad Nigel Johnstone | 04/26/05

First Filer Wins Steven Rogers | 04/26/05

This won't fix things wizard_of_oz | 04/26/05

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