Firm seeks piece of Apple pie via iPod claim

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Criticism can be helpful

If we can not spot the flaws in the system, we can not improve it.

---unless you have some form of proof---

Here we go:

http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,62930,00.html
Over the past few months, the number of questionable patents distributed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has reached a crescendo, and members of the software industry aren't about to let them go unchallenged. Among the patents in question are:

? One awarded to security firm Network Associates that gives the company rights to technology that deletes "undesired data" from a computer
? One that gives antispam firm Postini the rights to the process of filtering spam and viruses on a remote e-mail server
? Another that gives a California lawyer the rights to the process of assigning professionals a matching e-mail address and subdomain for their websites
? And another that gives Amazon.com the right to charge other website operators for using browser cookies that store data structures

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Harold Wegner, a partner with the law firm Foley and Lardner and who once served as a patent examiner, took the accusations one step further, blaming the way examiners are pressured to dispose, or come to a decision on, as many patent applications as possible.

"The overriding problem is that patent examiners today, and throughout history, were never able, and never expected, to do a perfect job in examining patents," said Wegner. "The disposal system is one of the biggest evils of the patent-administration system. If the goal is to dispose of as many applications as possible, then that forces you to accept cases. You wouldn't deny patents because you can't force someone to drop their (application) unless their patent is actually invalid."

In other words, examiners are biased toward accepting as many applications as possible in order to meet their quota, according to Wegner.

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Also of interest is the website for the Patent Office Professional Organization, where you can see the struggles that Patent officers are going through, as they're trying to do their job well, but are being pushed into doing it more quickly, and in a more shoddy manner:

http://www.popa.org/

Posted by: tic swayback   Posted on: 03/08/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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