House votes to overhaul patent system

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Better idea . . .

Alter the system so only individuals may file patents. Corporations != individuals, despite their (questionable) legal status as "legal entities".

And submarine patents (the one on the FAT file system comes to mind) should be ruled invalid and result in a huge fine. All those do is create an anti-competition and anti-innovation atmosphere. Patenting something (like the FAT file system) 20 years after it became ubiquitous is clearly a move that is both anti-innovation and anti-competition. The patent I noted here is only one of dozens, if not thousands, though. Microsoft is far from the only major player guilty of them. Say, set a fine of $1,000,000 a day past the 5th year the patented thing was in use, levied so that the company filing the severely belated patent in an attempt to stop competitors cold would be destroyed by their own arrogance?

This is beside the point that software, since it is a collection of algorithms, is not patentable according to the patent law as it is! And yet, programs have been being patented since Phil Katz succeeded in patenting the ZIP file compression system.

Are the folks at the USPTO really that stupid, that they don't even know the law?

Posted by: Raymond Danner   Posted on: 09/10/07 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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