July 14, 2010
Tidbit
Congress
is a cesspool of corruption, offering its members a variety of tricks to feather
their own nests, and pay back those cronies who help finance the con job
commonly called democracy. One legislative sleight of hand is a rider bill,
which is a bill attached to a different, typically unrelated bill, in a furtive
attempt to pass the rider without attracting scrutiny. Rider bills nearly always
cater to a special interest, and commonly involve a pork allocation to the
patron. Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, where IBM has roots, has failed at least
five years running to get patent deform passed. This year's attempt is a sneak
attack: a rider onto a small business loan funding bill. In the interest of
compact passage, what was never a hit has been reduced to a tidbit.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:23 PM | The Patent System | Comments (4)
November 28, 2009
Retiring
CAFC
Chief Judge Paul R. Michel, now 68, is retiring when the cherry blossoms next
bloom in the nation's capitol. Having written 800 opinions, he is considering
starting his own IP think tank. "Once I'm a retired judge, I can make a public
nuisance out of myself. I think that's needed." Certainly the politicians
threatening to trample this country's patent system could benefit from the wisdom on offer.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:12 AM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
September 30, 2009
Fraudulent
Advanced
Software sued Federal Reserve banks and Fiserv in Federal district court for
infringing process patents "for detecting fraudulent bank checks." The checks at
issue were U.S. Treasury checks. 28 U.S.C. Section §1498(a), dating to 1910 and
broadened as a World War I war powers act, limits patent infringement liability
by the U.S. to compensation granted through the Court of Federal Claims.
Otherwise, the government cocks a snoot at such a suit.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:43 PM | Case Law | Comments (0)
July 9, 2009
Cool It
In an echo of
denouncing "irrational exuberance," the organization best known for
harboring practicing pederasts has denounced vigorous patent protection. The
dope with the hanging rope is none other than the Pope, who put out the hard
word.
"On the part of rich countries there is excessive zeal for protecting knowledge through an unduly rigid assertion of the right to intellectual property, especially in the field of health care."
Bishops and priests on down the line twittered at the phrase "unduly rigid assertion." The jig is up. Time to rub the excessive off the zeal so as to give the Pope something less to squeal. About. And don't forget to tithe.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:45 AM | The Patent System | Comments (11)
July 5, 2009
Patent Americana
England's
Statute of Monopolies, passed by Parliament in 1624, curtailed the crown's abuse
in handing out monopolies, while codifying handing out monopolies, being only
tangential to patents as we understand them. English letters of patent were
monopolistic grants for inventing or importing new things, but also licensing
business, as a means for restricting competition generally. In what became rogue
colonies, the Americans were handing out their own monopolies.
Continue reading "Patent Americana"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 5:51 PM | The Patent System | Comments (2)
July 2, 2009
Researching
On
patent reform, the Senate shoots first and ask questions later. Judiciary
Chairman Patrick Leahy hustled his cockamamie patent bill out of committee in
April on a 15-4 vote. Now judiciary committee member Jeff Sessions is
wondering what impact the proposed post-grant challenge process might have.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:05 AM | The Patent System | Comments (4)
June 27, 2009
Jackson
A contribution to the media
obsession surrounding the death of the King of Pop: In 1993, Michael
Jackson was granted patent 5,255,452
for a "Method and means for creating anti-gravity illusion." Specially
designed shoes engaged with hitch members protruding through the stage,
allowing the wearer to lean beyond their center of gravity. The illusion
was used by Jackson in the music
video for Smooth Criminal.
Posted by Mr. Platinum at 8:57 AM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
June 15, 2009
Cull
"It
is in the sterilisation of failure, and not in the selection of successes for
breeding, that the possibility of an improvement of the human stock lies." - H.G.
Wells. Antithetical to rampant free-to-breed populist sentiment, government support for eugenics has no prospect. Fortunately, grasping
short-sightedness offers hope. Wells' proactive stance is more easily achieved by
impeding medical advances. To cull the defective in the population
as young as possible, there may be no more effective measure than making genetic
research uneconomic, to zero the return on investment for developing novel
treatments. Not a moment too soon to take the side road to Wells' goal for a
better human species. Outlaw gene patents.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:21 PM | The Patent System | Comments (4)
May 18, 2009
First to Flunk
A
first-to-file patent priority regime is rationally done using absolute novelty,
that is, no grace period. That is not what Sen. Leahy has for Senate Bill 515,
the currently proposed abomination posing as patent reform.
Hal Wegner
reports on the convolutions involved in Leahy's fantasy version of
first-to-file.
Continue reading "First to Flunk"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 9:44 AM | The Patent System | Comments (6)
May 17, 2009
Outlier
The
cabal misnamed as the Coalition for
Patent Fairness advocates making patent enforcement more tortuous and
expensive than it already is, as well as circumscribing patent holders' basic
rights, such as transfer of ownership. IT shakers Microsoft, Intel,
Hewlett-Packard, Micron and Cisco belong, and all share the distinction of being
top ten patent gatherers in 2008. IBM, the top patent scooper, is the only one
among IT corporate brethren who is not a member of the Coalition, and the only
one which has raked in serious lucre for years through patent licensing.
Microsoft, to its credit, has recently acquired the knack of cross-licensing.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:52 AM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
May 15, 2009
View from the Bench
CAFC
Chief Judge Michel spoke at an FTC venue last December, pouring cold water on
those hot and heavy for patent "reform." Junk patents are nothing more than a
gnat in the ointment. There is no litigation explosion. Hope for improvement
from further post-grant review process is fantasy given turnover at the PTO.
Excessive damages are a myth. Judge Michel swats statistically challenged
academicians calculating otherwise. And patent trolls? Give it a rest, Judge
Michel advises. Finally, as anyone with a lick of sense knows, patents are an
intellectual property: "The essential element of property is it is alienable.
You can sell it."
Continue reading "View from the Bench"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 9:52 PM | The Patent System | Comments (10)
May 10, 2009
Confined
Ron
Wilson at EDN, with no patents to his name, has what he terms "a modest
proposal": "prohibit assignment, sale, or any other transfer of patent
ownership," except inheritance.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 9:34 AM | The Patent System | Comments (20)
May 4, 2009
Practicing
The objection absurd, but patents as tradable commodities has raised some
ruckus, even as the loudest howler monkeys are disingenuously self-serving. The
flip side of that same fake coin is that patent
holders, including inventors, should be required to commercialize their
invention. In other words, patents and products should be synonymous. Another
boil of similar ilk is that reinvention should obviate infringement. Herein,
dispelling such nonsensical notions.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 5:14 PM | The Patent System | Comments (15)
April 30, 2009
Lunatic
David
Simon, Chief Patent Counsel at Intel, in testimony today before the House about
pending patent legislation, comes off as a raving sociopath. Let's begin with
his corporate arrogance, a pandemic disease among his
Coalition brethren. "As one of
America's leading innovators, Intel recognizes the critical importance of a
strong and effective patent system that protects actual inventions and thereby
provides an essential incentive for inventors... Too often, the patent law... is
being used to extract unjustified payments from true innovators..." And who
might the "true innovators" be?
Posted by Patent Hawk at 9:24 PM | The Patent System | Comments (20)
Troubling
"A
strong and predictable patent system fosters the collaborative development and
funding required to transform basic research into commercially viable
technologies and stable, high-paying jobs. It is troubling to many small
technology companies that, at a time of such grave economic uncertainty,
Congress would seek to fundamentally alter the economic structure of our
nation's patent system." - Bernard J. Cassidy of Tessera, telling the House
Judiciary Committee what boneheads they are with their crappy patent bill, but
in a politic way, of course.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 9:53 AM | The Patent System | Comments (3)
April 29, 2009
Con Man
Sen.
Patrick Leahy (D-Vt), Senate Judiciary Chairman, attempts to sew a silk purse
from a sow's ear with proposed patent legislation, disingenuously spinning in
Business Week that it gives "ingenuity freer rein." "It has been more than
50 years since Congress significantly updated the patent system." In truth,
Leahy
wants to go backwards, before the 1946 Patent Act, when apportionment of
damages was so wrecking the patent system that the Patent Commissioner at the
time called it "one of the sorest spots in the enforcement of the law in the
United States."
Posted by Patent Hawk at 7:53 PM | The Patent System | Comments (10)
April 16, 2009
History Lesson
"Five
years ago, a group of 15 corporate giants, which ironically had built their
success on patents but now rely primarily on their market power and acquisitions
for growth, wanted to weaken the U.S. Patent System and the protection it
offered the new generation of innovators. These companies are trying to retain
their position by pulling the economic ladder up behind themselves, and by
forcing guaranteed access - on the cheap - to technology developed by others." -
Dan Leckrone of the TPL Group, in the
San Francisco Chronicle.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:20 PM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
April 6, 2009
Fair
"Patent
laws shouldn't pick winners and losers. Current law is not fair to IT, so
something has to change... The current law is too easily abused to the
detriment of high-tech. That has to change." -
Silicon
Valley MercuryNews. The patent laws must be slanted to favor corporations
over inventors, just as financial shenanigans are socialized for the citizenry
to pay, while banks too big to fail are subsidized, with the resulting profits
privatized. Serve your country, fellow plebeians, so it can serve the rich.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:48 PM | The Patent System | Comments (13)
April 2, 2009
Hatched
Sen.
Orin Hatch (R-UT), co-sponsor of the proposed Senate Patent Act, before walking
out on the Executive Meeting of the Judiciary Committee meeting in a hissy fit:
"My primary purpose for doing this bill was to improve patent quality and limit
unnecessary and unproductive litigation costs. I do not believe the bill, in its
current form, accomplishes those goals." Sen. Leahy (D-VT), Committee chair,
attempted to cajole him from leaving, by sympathizing that he too would prefer
gutting damages for patent infringement, which the watered-down version before
the Committee lacked.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:00 PM | The Patent System | Comments (7)
March 31, 2009
Pigs in a Poke
The
phrase above refers to the clueless Congress passing patent laws without any
sense of ramifications.
Gene Quinn reports ringleaders in the Senate Judiciary Committee making
progress on major revisions to their proposed patent reform bill. The damages
provision now appears headed toward codification of the
Georgia-Pacific factors, a big step forward in terms of sensibility.
The backward leap is in lowering the reeexamination threshold to "an interesting question," as contrasted to its present "substantial new question of patentability." The vagueness is ludicrous. As litigations are sometimes stayed pending reexam, and the patent office is glacially slow about reexams, particularly inter partes, this new reexam criteria could be a death knell for patents, a practical abdication of the presumption of validity that patents presently enjoy by statute, resulting in a purgatory of unenforceability, guilty with no chance to prove innocence.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 3:36 PM | The Patent System | Comments (3)
March 27, 2009
No Respect Sausage
"To
retain respect for sausages and laws, one must not watch them in the making." -
credited to Otto von Bismark. Whatever the minutia marinade of the proposed
patent sausage, it has little chance of sizzling itself into law. The noises you
hear are sausage grinders, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D.-Vt.), and Sen. Arlen Specter
(R.-Penns.), hawking money for mystery meat.
Continue reading "No Respect Sausage"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 7:08 PM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
March 17, 2009
Presumption of Innovation
US patent rights have gone the way of "innocent until proven guilty" as our country plunges headfirst into a deep cavern of morally gray, with a permeating attitude of destruction over creation. The founding principal of making every attempt to protect intellectual property has degraded into making every attempt to control and limit that protection, while completely forgetting "to promote the progress of science and useful arts".
Continue reading "Presumption of Innovation"
Posted by Mr. Platinum at 10:06 AM | The Patent System | Comments (10)
March 16, 2009
Baby Gorilla
Matt
Buchanan on
Promote the Progress has a tidy analysis of
Google's
self-interest in patent reform. Matt makes two points: 1) as a youngster (a
decade-old company), Google has no patent experience other than being sued. 2)
Google already has monopoly power. Well put by Buchanan: "What can strong patent
protection offer to Google, as a patent owner? Nothing more than spikes on the
end of a giant club it already owns."
Posted by Patent Hawk at 7:48 PM | The Patent System | Comments (5)
Campaign
In
case you haven't noticed from the last two entries, patents as a scourge is
singing hot across the wires, the mainstream press replete with pleas from
well-oiled machines that something must be done. In the months ahead, expect
more of a focus on how gutting patents will "save jobs." Congress must act to
get the patent stormtroopers back on their feet.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:42 AM | The Patent System | Comments (6)
Distortion
"Patents
are not ordinary assets; they are options to litigate. While patent lawyers and
other intermediaries benefit directly from the scope and scale of IT patents,
that volume represents potential liability for companies that market useful
products. Most patents belong to others, and the sheer volume obscures the
patent landscape, limits the ability to evaluate patents and inevitably leads to
inadvertent infringement." - lobbyist Ed Black of the Computer and
Communications Industry Association, in the
Silicon Valley Mercury
News.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:19 AM | Patents In Business | Comments (8)
March 14, 2009
Too Far
The
cheesiest propaganda has a "gee-whiz, that ain't right" flavor. The
rubes eat it up. So, whoever bothers to read the oxymoronic
Christian Science Monitor is in for a treat. Correspondent James Turner
gingerly spews gosh-darn hogwash, aided by an addled
Daniel Ravicher, anti-patent
kid wonder. "We have too many patents being granted," Danny sings. Apparently,
Ravicher hasn't checked the allowance rate in a few years. Or maybe he has, but can't change his
religion despite the facts.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 9:02 PM | The Patent System | Comments (4)
March 10, 2009
Jaw
The
usual suspects headed to the Hill today to jaw in the Senate about patent
reform, including representatives from corporations, lobbyists, and academic
stuntman Mark Lemley. The patter was as expected. California Senator Dianne
Feinstein put the writing on the wall about getting to a passable bill,
especially over the highly contentious damages issue: "High tech seems to feel
that they're going to get whatever they want out of this bill. I'm not going to
vote for a bill unless there is reconciliation between the various interests."
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:30 PM | The Patent System | Comments (7)
March 7, 2009
Already Stewed
Serial
patent infringers banded together
years ago in a determined siege to bribe Congress to pass new legislation.
Consider that the courts have been patents' pressure cooker in recent years, and
those effects need a longer view before jumping into the deep end with more
radical changes. The Innovation
Alliance has
compiled a helpful synopsis of rulings by the high courts since 2006, when
the courts started reacting to political pressure from the well-heeled infringers
being impinged upon.
Continue reading "Already Stewed"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 8:15 PM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
March 4, 2009
Cacophony by Design
[While
other blogs cover the entrails, allow me to get to the heart of the beast.]
Congress comprises a cabal of sole proprietorships - Senators and
Representatives. The base wage is not great; private practice pays better. Oh,
but the perks - tremendous ego-satisfying attention tied to the illusion of
power, and the ability to soak lobbyists and the rarely enthused electorate of
funds for a lavish lifestyle, plus fuel for the engine to turn the crank for
another round in the rigged game called "election."
Continue reading "Cacophony by Design"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 4:29 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
March 3, 2009
Excitement
Vital
legislation was introduced today in Congress - in the Senate, sponsored by
Senators Leahy, and Hatch, along with hangers-on for hand-outs Schumer, Crapo,
Whitehouse, Risch, and Gillibrand: the "Patent Reform Act of 2009." The
legislation is vital to keep funds flowing into the coffers of Senators and
Representatives, who have a lifestyle to maintain to which they have become
accustomed.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:32 PM | The Patent System | Comments (9)
February 28, 2009
Biological?
The
Hatch-Waxman Act created an
accelerated pathway
to chemical generic drugs, by virtue of piggy-backing on previous testing
done by the patent holder. Biologic drugs are a different scenario altogether.
Made from living organisms, such as bacteria, not chemical formulation,
biologics are extremely difficult to replicate precisely.
Continue reading "Biological?"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 8:49 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
February 27, 2009
Hooking
Congress
is nothing more than a pack of whores who flash their wares as proposed
legislation, to attract lobbyists pumping them with money to sway a bill this
way or that. The past three years running, patent reform bills have wafted as a
lure for lining pockets. Senate Judiciary Chair Patrick Leahy and his House
counterpart John Conyers are going trolling again. The word on the street is
that they will jointly introduce this year's patent reform spliff next week,
entertaining offers to roll more green into it.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:47 PM | The Patent System | Comments (3)
February 22, 2009
Not Circling the Wagons
Another
year, another turn of the wheel, and the same patent political issues rear their
ugly little heads. Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Arizona) has his shtick of
pocketing lobbyist money by promising to rape DataTreasury of patent protection
for its digital bank check processing, known as "Check 21." This year's DOA bill
has already been introduced (S3600). And that's but the start of it. The
kibitzers aren't on vacation.
Continue reading "Not Circling the Wagons"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:16 PM | The Patent System | Comments (6)
February 10, 2009
2009 Patent Reform
The
Manufacturing Alliance on Patent
Policy (MAPP), a coalition of over 130 non-pharmaceutical manufacturers,
took a backhand slap at Sen. Patrick Leahy in a letter to President Obama
Tuesday, warning that the proposed patent reforms in recent years would hurt
manufacturers by weakening patent protection. Leahy has been the puppeted force
behind the computer industry's ploy to punch patents, so infringement is not as
costly, while raising the cost of enforcement by making patent litigation even
more expensive than it already is.
Continue reading "2009 Patent Reform"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 6:37 PM | The Patent System | Comments (5)
February 7, 2009
Court Reform
The
Coalition for 21st Century Patent Reform
is working "to secure enactment of recommendations in the
2004 report of the
National Academies of Science (NAS)." Disappointed with Congressional
efforts the past few years, and the USPTO, the lobbyist is declaring victory in
light of recent court cases. "The
patent law changes that have occurred since 2004 suggest that the courts--not the
legislature--should be entrusted with many of the patent reform topics that have
been considered."
Continue reading "Court Reform"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:46 PM | The Patent System | Comments (7)
February 6, 2009
The Invisible Edge
It's
refreshing to read a patent study that stands up and shouts sense. Mark Blaxill
and Ralph Eckardt, in "The Innovation Imperative: Building America's
Invisible Edge for the 21st Century" look to the past as a candle to light
the way forward. They begin by quoting Mark Twain (pictured) in A Connecticut Yankee in
King Arthur's Court, 1889: "The very first official thing I did in my
administration--and it was on the very first day of it too--was to start a patent
office; for I knew that a country without a good patent office and good patent
laws was just a crab, and couldn't travel any way but sideways or backwards."
Continue reading "The Invisible Edge"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:08 AM | The Patent System | Comments (24)
February 5, 2009
Publicity for Stupid
Trumpeting
expressed ignorance is not usually a publicity-seeking modus operandi. But for
two patent Paris Hiltons, it seemed just the ticket. Professional patent wrestlers
Nathan Myhrvold of Intellectual Ventures and Stanford University Law
Professor Mark
Lemley are tag-teaming to battle the unknown: who is behind the "flood" of
patent litigation in the past decade? Let me save you guys a lot of work. It's
simple. Patent holders.
Continue reading "Publicity for Stupid"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 7:08 PM | The Patent System | Comments (17)
January 29, 2009
Engineered
IEEE
has issued its
2009
patent reform recommendations. First off, a better USPTO, but not expanding
their rule-making authority. Clarify software as patentable. And then they get
woolly. "Consider alternatives to patent protection." Where they lament patent
pendency. "Address recoveries for infringement." Their "recoveries" position
sounds like they know nothing about
damages or the Georgia-Pacific factors.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:14 PM | The Patent System | Comments (3)
January 28, 2009
Abolition
The
membership of the House and Senate Judiciary committees for the 111th Congress
has been decided. What has also been decided is abolition of intellectual
property subcommittees in both houses. That puts any patent reform agenda, and
all its attendant issues, squarely before the full committee in each body. The
abolition thus puts a learning curve on more members, particularly in the House:
there are 29 in the House Judiciary Committee.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 6:12 PM | The Patent System | Comments (2)
January 27, 2009
Non-Copyists
One
could argue that everything needed would eventually be invented. No need for
patent protection in a society content with its technology. Patents accelerate
invention, by having an incentive to invent: an exclusivity grant. So whether an
infringer copied a patent, or independently developed the technology, is moot.
Other than copying as a first step is smarter than reinventing from scratch.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 8:20 PM | The Patent System | Comments (7)
Cream of the Crop
For
the third time, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-California) has reintroduced legislation
for a pilot program to help educate district court judges about patent cases.
Never mind that attorneys on both sides of a litigation are supposed to do that.
The more experienced judges are well known. If a judge needs help, that road has
been well paved, and brethren in other districts are a phone call or email away.
Never mind that the only extant problem with district courts handling patent
cases is in limiting choice of venue, a problem the CAFC introduced in
TS Tech.
Maybe the pilot program ought to be educating the higher courts about patent
cases.
Continue reading "Cream of the Crop"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 3:02 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
January 23, 2009
The Front Burner
Hal
Wegner has expressed "reason for optimism that patents will not be put on a back
burner by the new President." Reason for optimism would be just the opposite:
that things would simmer down, on the back burner.
Continue reading "The Front Burner"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:08 PM | The Patent System | Comments (2)
January 3, 2009
Shiver
"Abstract
software code is an idea without physical embodiment." So opined the Supreme
Court in
Microsoft v. AT&T, 2007. The high courts in recent years have done what they
could to denigrate software as unpatentable, most recently in a stunningly
incoherent ruling at the CAFC
In re Bilski.
This is the result of both scientific and economic ignorance by the courts, and political
brainwash by computer software corporations in this country, including,
incredibly, Microsoft and Apple. As emergent Asian nations race to overtake the
U.S. in every technological arena, the heavy patent action here is cutting off
our leading-edge nose to spite our face.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 9:58 PM | Patents In Business | Comments (7)
January 2, 2009
Rear View 2008
Patent
reform fell off Congress' radar while the USPTO hit a nadir in
bad management. The Supreme Court was mercifully mum, except for
exhausting
patents, while the CAFC went into the weeds on more than one occasion.
Continue reading "Rear View 2008"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:37 PM | The Patent System | Comments (5)
November 24, 2008
Wireless
Reed
Hundt, former elementary school principal, was FCC chairman in the Clinton
administration. In 2006, he wrote a
genuinely stupid
opinion piece in Forbes disparaging the U.S. patent system, suggesting arbitrarily slashing patent grants by 90%, and other lunacy. Empirical proof, for
the upteenth time, that a Yale graduate can be as smart as a chewed wad of gum
stuck under a student's desk. Hundt is now helping President-elect Obama as a
transition team leader. No indication that Hundt will have anything to do with
patents. So maybe let's give the guy a break.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:11 AM | The Patent System | Comments (3)
November 19, 2008
Kitchen Sink Solutions
The Chamber of Commerce has released a
draft report outlining proposed solutions for problems that currently plague the USPTO. The report, aimed at providing recommendations to the incoming Administration, includes all of the usual suspects - all of them. Written by an impressive line-up of contributors, including former PTO executives, the report aspires to "stimulate a fresh dialogue on the best ways to improve the PTO's patent examining performance". But instead, it reiterates tired approaches, and contains so many suggestions, probably due to the large number of contributors - all with differing opinions, it is difficult to determine where to even begin this proposed conversation of change.
Continue reading "Kitchen Sink Solutions"
Posted by Mr. Platinum at 9:47 AM | The Patent System | Comments (3)
November 11, 2008
Jack It
Patently-O's
Professor Dennis Crouch
reports,
as a straight man for unintentional comedy, that Senior IP Counsel at SAS US,
Tim Wilson, having constructed a hypothetical demand curve "using the powerful
computing resources of SAS," figures that if patents cost as much as $50,000,
there would be a "dramatic decrease" in patent filings.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:28 PM | The Patent System | Comments (4)
November 7, 2008
Lame Blaming About Claiming
CAFC Judge Plager recently mused out loud about claim construction, most
strikingly, his and the court's technical incompetence.
The fundamental problem with claim construction today is that too many claims are no longer describing hammers or machines or other physical objects--though we have had our share of interpretive trouble even with some simple things like what is a "board."
Continue reading "Lame Blaming About Claiming"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:02 PM | § 112 | Comments (12)
October 15, 2008
El Presidente
Donald
Zuhn at Patent Docs
wrote an excellent overview of the presidential candidates' stances on patents
in his entry "Presidential
"Debate" on U.S. Patent Policy." Patent Docs is one of my favorite patent
blogs. Consistent solid reportage. Check it out.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:13 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
October 3, 2008
What Goes Around...
Much
sourness has been provoked in recent years, and legislation mooted, that would
radically alter patent law. From one writer regarding the current public temper -
To put the matter very frankly, the attitude of many people in the country today with regard to patents is a petulant, irritated mood. The greatest danger which could result from any such upsurge of popular disapproval of patents because of associating them with an illegal, antisocial institution is that it might lead to an unwise, wholesale purge of the entire patent system. In view of the nature of the evidence which has been presented to the legislators, it is not unreasonable to fear that the Congress might move on to the subject of permanent reform in a petulant, angry mood.
Continue reading "What Goes Around..."
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:38 AM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
September 24, 2008
Clay Pigeon
"September
24 Is World Day Against Software Patents," booms
Stop Software Patents.
Benjamin Henrion, initiator of the StopSoftwarePatents coalition effort, explains "The aim behind StopSoftwarePatents is to gather a worldwide coalition of businesses and civil society in order to get laws which clearly exempt software from patentable subject matter. This is the best solution for getting rid of 'patent trolls' and uncontrollable legal risks generated by software patents. The day the software industry forms a clear front against software patents will be the beginning of the end for the 'patent trolls'."
Continue reading "Clay Pigeon"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 4:20 PM | The Patent System | Comments (2)
August 11, 2008
Walk This Way
According
to
NationalJournal.com, Senate Minority Whip
Jon Kyl has his own vector for patent reform, divergent from the Leahy-Hatch
cluster fun. Kyl reportedly spent months in meetings "with critics of the Leahy
bill, including representatives from the pharmaceutical and life-sciences
industries, small tech firms, and other companies whose business models depend
on patent licenses. Noticeably absent from the talks were the major high-tech
and media firms that belong to the Coalition for Patent Fairness and officials
from the financial services sector who championed Leahy's bill."
Continue reading "Walk This Way"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:58 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
Habitat
In
its Small Business section, The Wall Street Journal today used three anecdotes
to survey the patent scene. The article "Caught
in the Crossfire," stated "the clash:" "Big companies that pay for patent
licenses and small companies that generate revenue by licensing patents are
increasingly at odds."
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:20 PM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
August 10, 2008
Greenhorn
Young
James McDonough displayed inexperience in an
interview in the Wall Street Journal. McDonough blamed patent trolls for the
USPTO tightening examination, when it was media coverage of carping by
patent-infringing computer technology corporations that provoked a PTO political
response. To blame enforcers of their IP rights is like a bad omelet cook
blaming chickens for laying eggs.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:55 PM | The Patent System | Comments (16)
July 14, 2008
America First
"I
have to tell you that the innovation and the technology and the entrepreneurship
of the world still lies in the United States of America. Every technological
advance we've made in the 21st century and throughout the 20th has come from the
United States of America." - John McCain, Republican presidential candidate
Continue reading "America First"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:03 PM | The Patent System | Comments (6)
Sieg Heil!
"The
bigger the lie, the more the people will believe it." Joseph
Goebbels, Hitler's propagandist, must be smiling up from Hell at academics
Bessen and Meurer, who concocted rubbish figures about the value of U.S.
patents. Mainstream media hack Gordon Crovtiz has taken the numbers as gospel.
"Empirical research" he calls them. "Shocking findings." Crovitz preaches his
new-found gospel in "Patent
Gridlock Suppresses Innovation." Of course, it's in the Wall Street Journal,
Rupert Murdoch's latest conquest.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:26 AM | The Patent System | Comments (5)
June 30, 2008
Debauchery
Hal
Wegner displays astonishing senility in a disjointed and practically
schizophrenic review of pulp fiction by academics Bessen and Meurer (B&M).
Wegner: "The U.S. patent system is not working. It stands accused on all sides
of stifling innovation instead of nurturing it. Some critics say the system is
fundamentally wrecked, others that it can be fixed."
Posted by Patent Hawk at 9:58 AM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
June 20, 2008
Sauce For The Goose
Damien
Geradin, Anne Layne-Farrar, and A. Jorge Padilla, in "Elves
or Trolls? The Role of Non-Practicing Patent Owners in the Innovation Economy":
Clearly, patents in the hands of non-practicing entities can increase competition, lower downstream prices, and enhance consumer choice... Clearly, patents are a complex subject that cannot be portrayed as either all good or all bad; tradeoffs will always be involved. Without a better understanding of the many complicated effects of patents in high technology markets, we run the very real risk of misguided policy decisions.
It's much simpler than that.
Continue reading "Sauce For The Goose"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:24 PM | The Patent System | Comments (2)
June 17, 2008
Fact & Fiction
Democratic
nominee for President
Barack Obama:
I'm going to make... judgments not based on some fierce ideological pre-disposition, but based on what makes sense. I'm a big believer in evidence. I'm a big believer in fact... We've got offices like the patent office that are outdated to take advantage of new discoveries here in the United States.
Continue reading "Fact & Fiction"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:08 PM | The Patent System | Comments (13)
June 2, 2008
Monopoly
To
FTC Commissioner
J. Thomas Rosch,
patents are inherently anti-competitive. To what degree depends upon the
situation. Rosch reserves special ire for patent holders of technology
standards, but would limit damages for inventors to what it cost to obtain a
patent.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 8:50 PM | The Patent System | Comments (10)
May 18, 2008
Conflict and Cooperation
Culture and law intersect at the personal level. Everybody lives in the two worlds simultaneously. But lawyers often behave as if there is no world but law.
This was not a mistake made by the Founding Fathers of this nation. To be fair to us today, except for one day in September of 2001, we have not had much visceral experience with how conflicts between culture and law may result in violence. But the Founding Fathers lived much of their lives in such conflict. And their fathers had lived much of their lives in conflict (that between church and state).
Continue reading "Conflict and Cooperation"
Posted by Michael Martin at 1:47 PM | The Patent System | Comments (5)
May 11, 2008
Feathering the Nest for Inventors
Sensible patent reform should focus on feathering the nest for inventors in the United States. There is nothing more important to our long-term prospects within the global economy.
Continue reading "Feathering the Nest for Inventors"
Posted by Michael Martin at 5:00 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
May 10, 2008
Pitiable
Professors
James Bessen and Michael J. Meuer (BM), who should be thoroughly discredited for
their tripe, appear to have duped many people who should know better. What they
demonstrate to the discerning is how little patent emperors have no clothes.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:37 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
Broken and Unbroken
Referring to patents, the
Economist thinks it "a pity" that a "rewrite" of
"broken laws" is "back on the shelf." Wrong. The patent statutes are not what's
broken, with one ghastly exception. It's the USPTO and the courts that are broken.
Continue reading "Broken and Unbroken"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:04 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
May 9, 2008
Dead, For Now
The Economist: "On May 5th the Senate removed the bipartisan Patent Reform Act from its calendar."
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:41 AM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
April 30, 2008
Paying for Garbage
The
New York Times reports $4.3 million spent in the past 15 months lobbying at
the wounded Patent Act. The anti-patent
Coalition for Patent Fairness alone forked out $2.5 million, lining the
pockets of Sen. Leahy & Sen. Hatch. Pro-patent rival
Coalition for 21st Century Patent Reform
spent $1.8 million.
Continue reading "Paying for Garbage"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:06 PM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
April 29, 2008
How Patent Reform is like a Sombrero
With much of the intense pressure to put patent reform into law past, now is an opportune moment in time to step back and reflect on the bigger picture of patent law in the United States. What bigger picture is there to be seen? Our vision of the patent system, and of the need for its reform, can be understood better upon consideration of the sombrero.
Continue reading "How Patent Reform is like a Sombrero"
Posted by Michael Martin at 1:19 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
April 28, 2008
Grinding
Congress
Daily reported last Thursday that "more than 20 high-tech and financial services
industry executives, as well as corporate patent counsels," met "with Sen. Orrin
Hatch, R-Utah... to discuss controversial components of a bill that would
overhaul the U.S. patent system." Proponents for eviscerating patent enforcement
are relentless and unbounded financially in effecting the corruption of
corruptible. While 2008 may pass with further damage to the U.S. patent regime
limited to case law conniptions, 2009 is likely to bring again the beast to
savage the integrity of this nation's patent system. A glimmer of hope flickers
that 2009 brings a change of USPTO management that returns a semblance of sanity
to the agency, and thus a counterbalance to the inexorable grind for
deformation.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:25 AM | The Patent System | Comments (2)
April 25, 2008
Judicial Disappointment
In an otherwise less than remarkable non-precedential decision by the CAFC, Circuit Judge Richard Linn took the opportunity in a concurring opinion to express "disappointment" and "concern" over the current state of the patent system, suggesting that "the circumstances that led up to this appeal may be more symptomatic of certain failures of the patent system than merely reflective of the peculiar facts of this case". You don't say.
Continue reading "Judicial Disappointment"
Posted by Mr. Platinum at 12:23 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
April 24, 2008
Lincoln's Famous Words
On February 11, 1859, Abraham Lincoln gave a lecture to the inhabitants of Jacksonville, Illinois on the topic of discoveries and inventions. His most famous words from this lecture are the last few that were recorded:"Next came the Patent laws. These began in England in 1624;* and, in this country, with the adoption of our constitution. Before then, any man might instantly use what another had invented; so that the inventor had no special advantage from his own invention. The patent system changed this; secured to the inventor, for a limited time, the exclusive use of his invention; and thereby added the fuel of interest to the fire of genius, in the discovery and production of new and useful things."
Continue reading "Lincoln's Famous Words"
Posted by Michael Martin at 9:34 AM | The Patent System | Comments (2)
April 21, 2008
Facile Treatment
Here
we go again. "There should be greater penalties in respect of patent holders who
make unjustified threats of legal proceedings. "Patent trolls" should not be
allowed to flourish and to hold public and private investors in research and
development to ransom." - Australian academic
Matthew
Rimmer
Continue reading "Facile Treatment"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:09 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
April 18, 2008
Abandoning His Post
John
Whealan, former solicitor of the USPTO, has been soliciting PTO-favorable
legislation for the past year, "assisting" Sen. Leahy in bungling patent reform.
In a signal of defeat for the bill, S. 1145, Whealan, who has been on leave from
the PTO, is abandoning his temporary post with the Senate May 1. Self-absorbed,
Leahy has called his efforts a waste of "thousands of hours."
Continue reading "Abandoning His Post"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:01 AM | The Patent System | Comments (2)
April 13, 2008
Dulling the Edge
The
International Federation of Professional &
Technical Engineers, damning S. 1145:
It would threaten our nation's competitive edge in a number of significant ways - including allowing foreign based companies to challenge the U.S. patents of American manufacturers... Patent reform must not undermine our manufacturing base by diminishing the returns for those whose creativity and ingenuity has been one of the key ingredients to America's economic strength.
Continue reading "Dulling the Edge"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:09 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
April 12, 2008
Disappointed
Sen. Patrick Leahy appears left holding a sack of
shat - S. 1145, the Patent Putrefaction Act. Referring to the lobbyists who have
bought him, Leahy lamented, "we have been working on these reforms for years."
Leahy called the thwarted bill "a missed opportunity." The real missed
opportunity is that such pathetic and corrupt legislation actually received
sustained attention from lawmakers, when there is real work to be done in improving the patent
system.
Continue reading "Disappointed"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:08 PM | The Patent System | Comments (3)
April 10, 2008
Quid Pro Quo
Senate
Republicans are threatening inaction if nominations for appellate court judges
are not acted on, the pace of which has been described as "glacial." Numerous
judicial
nominations languish under the jaundiced eye of
Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. Sen. Arlen Spector,R-Pa., who
yesterday pulled his support for Leahy's Putrid Patent Act, suggested that GOP
senators retaliate by blocking the bill, S.1145, a specter that Leahy acknowledged. And a
fine idea indeed.
Continue reading "Quid Pro Quo"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:37 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
Checking Out
At
the behest of the big banker boys, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. sponsored an
amendment to the Putrid Patent Act, exempting banks from paying damages for
infringing patents covering the mandated "Check 21" check imaging law. Sessions
has now dropped support for the provision over constitutional legality concerns.
Some things money can't buy, though the banking lobby certainly tried to buy
this.
Continue reading "Checking Out"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:54 AM | The Patent System | Comments (9)
April 9, 2008
Crumbling
Like
a rat leaving a sinking ship, Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., has pulled his support
for S. 1145 over damages apportionment. According to Congressional
Quarterly, sponsor Sen. Patrick Leahy, Senate Judiciary Committee chair,
"reserved the Senate television studio for a news conference two days in a row
this week, only to cancel both times." Leary had previously acknowledged the
vote count problematic, though he had been hoping to get it to the floor. Leahy
and cosponsor Sen. Orrin Hatch are still haggling over the inequitable conduct
provision. Hatch's support for the bill is contingent on changes being made.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:02 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
April 8, 2008
Bought
The
Coalition for Patent Fairness has
just
rented Congressional heavy hitters Trent Lott, R-Miss, John Breaux, D-La,
and former House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo, as a cluster contingent
to shove the Patent Deform Act to ramming speed. As one wag mused: "If patent
reform is going anywhere this year, it will happen either this week or next
week. The CPF has been saying it's very confident that the bill will pass. If
this is the case, why hire three of the most expensive lobbyists in Washington
for a 1-2 week job?"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:05 PM | The Patent System | Comments (5)
April 7, 2008
Not Happening
S.
1145, the Patent Reform Act, languishes in a Senate cubbyhole, awaiting an airing on the floor. While
its boosters croon its debut imminent, it may not even make it to the
floor this session, as time runs short, and more important issues press (e.g.,
the housing and banking crises). Regardless, the bill is quite unlikely to get
through Congress this year, and most certainly won't be signed into law without
major revision.
Continue reading "Not Happening"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 5:18 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
April 5, 2008
Quality Submission
Carlos
Gutierrez, Secretary of Commerce, "the voice of business in government," wrote
a letter
to the Senate, praising to the skies "Applicant Quality Submission" (AQS),
a scheme to force patent applicants to scour the prior art before filing a
patent application, as part of S.1145, the pending Senate patent bill. The
clamor for AQS by the patent bar is deafening in its silence.
Continue reading "Quality Submission"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:28 AM | The Patent System | Comments (6)
April 4, 2008
Hillary's Short Take
During
a Pennsylvania campaign stop, Hillary Clinton spoke as if opposed to the pending
Patent Reform Act. Asked by a local inventor, Clinton
reportedly
said she opposes anything in the bill that would hurt manufacturers, noting that
New York manufacturers oppose the bill. Simple as that.
Continue reading "Hillary's Short Take"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:34 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
April 3, 2008
Weak Patent Protection Costs Jobs
Labor
unions represent congealed opposition to the Patent Deform Act, currently
moldering in the Senate. Christopher Rugaber of the
Associated Press:
Spurred by concern about overseas piracy of U.S. goods, unions have stepped up their opposition to patent reform legislation pending in the Senate. The AFL-CIO and... a group of seven unions that includes the Teamsters, argued... recently that proposed reforms to the patent system would make it easier for competitors in China and India to counterfeit U.S. products and send more U.S jobs overseas.
Continue reading "Weak Patent Protection Costs Jobs"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:21 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
April 1, 2008
Media "Briefing"
The Coalition for Patent Fairness
hosted a media briefing conference call this morning to discuss the Patent Reform Act (S.1145), and its place on the agenda of Congress, which reconvenes next week. The briefing was brief in content, but not duration. The "insights" given were known in advance, and the predications predictable, with the Coalition a bit cagey in not wanting to show its hand.
Continue reading "Media "Briefing""
Posted by Mr. Platinum at 10:18 AM | The Patent System | Comments (2)
Time for a Change
I read
it on the World Wide Web; it must be true. The patent system is broke. Patents are being bought
by fake companies who are not even doing what the patent is for. Then, these
fakes, make what they call shell companies, like seashells, nobody home, with no real
business but patent monkey business, sue companies that make the products we
all love. These shells, scum of the earth, are acting like trolls. They are
patent trolls. Wow. I like the sound of that.
Continue reading "Time for a Change"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:31 AM | The Patent System | Comments (3)
March 24, 2008
Skewering Rubes
The
trolls of patent policy are academics. Over-credentialed chowderheads. Charts
and graphs depicting meaningless statistics, the meaning sucked out by being out
of proper context. Jumping to conclusions like frogs on hot sand, all the while
paying lip service to the complexity of reality. Jamming what fits into a
theoretical construct, leaving as offal inconvenient contrary facts.
Continue reading "Skewering Rubes"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 8:41 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
March 20, 2008
For the Corporations
Michael
Meurer, interviewed in
Forbes, equated the worth of the patent system to its value to corporations:
For most firms, the headache of a patent lawsuit is greater than the benefit of the patents they get and can use against other people... The patent system can't work unless it provides an incentive to innovators. It managed to do that for the average firm in 1984 and for pharmaceutical companies in 1999.
Continue reading "For the Corporations"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 7:28 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
March 19, 2008
Beware
Mr.
Shun-Kuo Su of Taiwan gives an across-the-puddle perspective in
Forbes of U.S. patent deform in the making:
[T]he bill would eliminate patent-holders' protection against frivolous lawsuits... These and other changes in the proposed legislation would cause inventors' costs to skyrocket. Patent values would erode as their legal stature fall into question. Such a coordinated attack on American patents would be devastating to inventors--and to consumers who rely on their products.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 4:06 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
March 18, 2008
When failure = success? Patents stimulate new ventures.
"If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary-wise; what it is it wouldn't be, and what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?" - Alice in Wonderland
The PatentlyO posts from Bessen and Meurer are taking a trip to crazy-town. Their post today on "patent failure" focuses on the impact that the patent system has had on publicly traded companies.
Continue reading "When failure = success? Patents stimulate new ventures."
Posted by Michael Martin at 10:42 AM | The Patent System | Comments (7)
Nortel Phones It In
Toronto-based
Nortel Networks, known to hammer
competitors with patent litigation suits, spent $560,000 lobbying for patent
legislation in 2007; a Canadian company paying for the U.S. to foul its patent
regime; guess they figure patents are a zero-sum game to them.
Continue reading "Nortel Phones It In"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:21 AM | Patents In Business | Comments (0)
March 17, 2008
Here Boy
USPTO
statistics show reexamination to be an effective tool for bringing
questionable patent claims to dock: 64% of claims are amended, 10% cancelled;
26% emerge unscathed.
S. 1145
eliminates inter partes reexamination (Sec. 5), substituting a terminal one-year
open season. Patents are often not enforced in their first year; prior art may
take years to surface; the rules of validity change through time (e.g.
Obzilla).
The post-grant opposition section is exemplary of how ill-considered the 2007
Patent Act is; how little understanding by sponsor
Sen. Leahy in drafting the legislation,
who appears to be acting as a lapdog for certain special
interests in trying to foul one of the primary parts of this country's economic
engine.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:39 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
March 16, 2008
Crossroads Ahead?
Patent
holders have been hit hard the past couple of years.
Declaratory judgment motions may now be filed at the drop of a hat,
obliterating licensing negotiation without first suing, thus rendering
litigation de rigueur.
Obzilla
is still wrecking havoc in combo-Tokyo, whilst Thomas Jefferson spins in his
grave.
Willfulness isn't just willful anymore, it's "objectively reckless": a
drunken rampage of infringement is required, or we was just boys being boys, ya'
know. Now, the obscenely ironically-named
Coalition for Patent Fairness (CPF) is
howling at the moon about nearly completing its purchase of our rent-to-own
Congress.
Continue reading "Crossroads Ahead?"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 5:43 PM | The Patent System | Comments (2)
March 14, 2008
Patents, Property, and Corporations: a Historical and Economic Reminder
Economists Bessen and Meurer have published a book, Patent Failure, detailing the results of their study of the economic benefits of the patent system. In their own words, a central theme in the conclusions from their study is that "patents often fail to perform effectively as property rights." One legitimate answer to this claim is, "So what? Patents aren't exactly property rights anyway." But what are patents then? The purpose of this post is to explain how historically and economically patents can also be analogized to corporations. Thus, the criticisms that Bessen and Meurer make against the patent system tell only part of the story.
Continue reading "Patents, Property, and Corporations: a Historical and Economic Reminder"
Posted by Michael Martin at 2:03 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
March 13, 2008
Failure
James
Bessen and Michael Meurer take a swing at
the U.S. patent system in their new book,
Patent Failure:
"Innovators have grown frustrated with the failings of the American patent
system." The book is fiction, based on fallacious premises and sophistic
analyses.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:23 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
Nobody puts patents in a corner!
"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." -Thomas Edison
As regular readers know, the author is aware of imperfections in the current patent system in the United States. In that regard, he was very pleased to read about what looks like some good work done by a couple of economists on the patent system. In particular, these economists have studied and offered many insights into the ways in which the patent system is not functioning perfectly as a system of property rights.
Continue reading "Nobody puts patents in a corner!"
Posted by Michael Martin at 8:12 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
March 12, 2008
Inequitable Conduct Policy
Former
USPTO Commissioner
Harry Manbeck, now with Rothwell,
Figg, Ernst & Manbeck, has written the Senate Judiciary Committee with a
wise perspective on one ill-considered decimation proposed in the folly codified
as S. 1145: "I believe that it would be a mistake to eviscerate the [inequitable
conduct] doctrine as it now stands."
Continue reading "Inequitable Conduct Policy"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:51 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
Down & Outed
Rick
Frenkel had a juvenile impulse to blog anonymously. The juvenility was not so
much anonymity per se, it was blogging as he did - trying to out others while
staying masked. The inevitable occurred - Frenkel pissed off attorneys,
including the legendary Ray Niro, who put a bounty out for Frenkel's identity after Niro took
umbrage.
Frenkel outed himself just before being outed. Niro wasn't the only one
displeased.
Continue reading "Down & Outed"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:11 AM | The Patent System | Comments (9)
March 10, 2008
Reaction to Reaction
Last
week, in reaction to the 2007 Patent Deform Act being stalled, the Coalition for
Patent Fairness (CPF) signaled
false compromise. Now, defenders of patent sensibility react. From the
Coalition for
21st Century Patent Reform -
"This proposed language from the Coalition for Patent Fairness does nothing to move patent reform closer to adoption. CPF's proposed damages language is merely a restatement of the "prior art subtraction" language that the Senate Judiciary Committee report has already recognized as deficient. As with the earlier language, it would result in a wholesale reduction in the value of damages awarded to inventors whose patents are infringed. This language would give a green light to would-be copyists, especially those in low labor cost countries, who will quickly realize that that they can knock off patented American technology with little or no fear of retribution. The end result of this proposal is that the incentive for innovation is dramatically reduced at the cost of thousands of American jobs and the loss of our leadership in life saving research and ingenuity."
Continue reading "Reaction to Reaction"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 9:54 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
March 9, 2008
Uncompromising Damages
The
Coalition for Patent Fairness and
Financial Services Roundtable last week
wrote Senators Leahy, Hatch, and Specter, tweaking a smidge their insistence on
damages apportionment as a sure means to clog the courts, maximize litigation
cost, and eviscerate patent enforcement. Modification to current language in the
Senate bill for damages apportionment is copasetic, as long as "the law makes
clear the inventor must prove the inclusion of the invention in a product is
what predominantly causes consumers to purchase the product." In other words, a
plaintiff would have to prove that the product is purchased for its infringing
value.
Continue reading "Uncompromising Damages"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:17 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
March 4, 2008
Bang for Bucks
Senators
Leahy & Hatch keep
pounding their old tom-toms for the Patent Deform Act, but it's just to
pacify their patrons; the dancers have moved to another tune.
A Patent Prospector confidential source reports:
The latest from Washington is that (Senate Majority leader) Reid has said the bill won't come to the floor before April. The consensus is that if it doesn't pass then, it's lost in the election meat grinder. Leahy has said he won't bring up patent reform again next year, although that may be a hammer to get people to compromise because Reid doesn't want to devote floor time to anything that's not going to sail through. The lobbyists tell me that if Leahy had the 60 votes to break a filibuster, he would have brought it to the floor by now.
Continue reading "Bang for Bucks"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 3:47 PM | The Patent System | Comments (3)
March 3, 2008
End Software Patents
A
fantasy propaganda site called End
Software Patents (ESP) seeks an end to what doesn't exist: software patents.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:37 PM | The Patent System | Comments (3)
February 29, 2008
Crippling
Using
the San Jose Mercury
News for a soapbox, Daniel Leckrone, head of the patent prospecting
TPL Group, ripped into proposed
legislation currently withering on the vine in the Senate.
If passed in its existing form, the bill masquerading under the euphemism "Patent Reform Act" will stifle growth and prosperity for the average U.S. citizen. It will slow down investment, reduce jobs and threaten economic recovery at a time we need it most. This misguided special-interest legislation still pending in the portals of the Senate must be stopped.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:35 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
February 23, 2008
Follow the Money
If
you wonder why, for the Patent Reform Act,
Senator Leahy is so hot to trot, it's that he got
paid and bought. Of the $2.4 million packed into Leahy's political piggy
bank in the past five years, $3/4 million came from "lawyers and
lobbyists;" not surprising, given that Leahy is Senate Judiciary Committee
chairman. Second place in pork placement was the computer-related sector,
approaching $1/2 million. Third place is under $200,000. Heavyweights in digital
technologies, including communications companies, which are totally digital
too, are the pushers for so-called "patent reform."
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:02 AM | The Patent System | Comments (4)
February 21, 2008
A View from Tel Aviv
Bernard
Frieder is a consultant to technology companies in Israel, miffed at the U.S.
Congress for threatening to wreck the U.S. patent system with its Patent Reform
Act of 2007.
Because inventors, research organizations and startup ventures around the world rely on US patents to protect the output of their labor, changing the US patent system has global repercussions.
Continue reading "A View from Tel Aviv"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:37 AM | The Patent System | Comments (2)
Loaded Gun
George
Margolin of the Professional Inventors Alliance
had a graphic response to last week's
editorial
in the Washington Times by Senators Leahy, touting S. 1145, the Senate bill
to deform the U.S. patent system. "All inventors strongly disagree with [Leahy],
but he wouldn't know that because he has allowed few, if any, real inventors
speak before his committee," Margolin conjectured.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:09 AM | The Patent System | Comments (2)
February 19, 2008
All Good
The
U.S. Patent Reform Act of 2007 is a gift, a most welcome change, if you are an
Indian generic drug maker. The view from Mumbai:
The immediate impact of the law change will be to ease challenges on drug patents and also lower legal costs in such challenges.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 9:29 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
CAFC on Patent Reform
Chief
Judge Michel of the U.S. Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit (CAFC), addressing
the Association of Corporate Patent Counsel on January 28, 2008, backhandedly
took Congress to task for being duped by asinine academics, essentially rumor
mongers, jumping to conclusions, ignorant of facts. Noting selective
Congressional committee reportage, Michel hints that the fix was in.
Continue reading "CAFC on Patent Reform"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:22 PM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
February 17, 2008
Bad Brew
Economist
Robert Shapiro and health care policy maven Aparna Mathur rip into provisions of
the Patent Reform Act currently swirling the bowl in the Senate. In a study
published by the Biotechnology Industry
Organization, the authors project the repercussions of damages
apportionment, post-grant opposition, and lowering the bar for inequitable
conduct.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:51 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
February 15, 2008
Good Old Bozos
Senators
Leahy and Hatch, in a
Washington Times
editorial, cry wolf about the need for patent reform, dishing out fallacious logic and
rummy rumor posing as fact. "Meaningful patent reform is crucial to America's
ability to maintain its competitive edge in the world," they toot, without
evidentiary basis or rational reasoning matching perceived problem to proposed
solution.
Continue reading "Good Old Bozos"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:02 AM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
February 14, 2008
Becalmed
Keith
Perine in the Congressional Quarterly spied the
stall in the Senate version of the Patent Reform Act.
The Senate is not expected to take up a measure to overhaul patent laws until April at the earliest, as agreement on the complex legislation remains elusive. Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick J. Leahy, a Vermont Democrat who sponsored the legislation (S 1145), acknowledged Wednesday that it likely won't be on the floor until after a two-week March recess. So far .... there have not been substantive negotiations over complex provisions - particularly a section dealing with damages awards in patent infringement lawsuits - since the Judiciary panel approved the bill last July... Lobbyists have predicted that the committee-approved bill does not have a filibuster-proof majority of 60 votes.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 9:05 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
Shifting Liability
Money
is a lubricant and a salve. Banks apply the salve to others to ease their own
pain: potent wads in political lobbying and campaign contributions. With the
housing market in deep kimchee, the banking industry is pushing proposals to
shift the risk of mangled mortgages to the Federal Housing Administration;
considered far-fetched a few months ago, now more a matter of when than whether.
Then there's this pesky patent holder,
DataTreasury, that practically patented "Check 21," the federal law for
digitally archiving checks.
Continue reading "Shifting Liability"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:24 PM | Patents In Business | Comments (1)
February 12, 2008
Money Matters
The
Coalition for 21st Century Patent Reform, whose motto is "patents matter,"
made no small matter of making money matter in lobbying for patent legislation:
paying law firm Akin Gump $1.2 million in
2007 to grease the skids.
Continue reading "Money Matters"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 7:39 PM | The Patent System | Comments (2)
February 7, 2008
Carnac The Magnificent
As
prescient as he is scrupulous, Grand Patent Poobah
Jon Dudas predicted
patent reform passage: "I'm optimistic that we'll have patent reform because what we
see is that there are very real answers. We're an innovation economy. We think
that the model works, but can be improved [to arrive at] a positive bill that
can benefit everyone."
Continue reading "Carnac The Magnificent"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 7:32 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
Zen Valor
The
Financial Times posted
an opinion piece by Patti Waldmeir that surmised Congress just contemplating
patents is just about right.
At such a time of uncertainty, inertia may be the better part of valour: Congress has wasted years not solving the patent problem; it is hard to see why lawmakers should rush things now, when the only problems left to resolve are the really hard ones.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:24 AM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
The Patent Union
An
brotherhood of unions forge opposition to patent tomfoolery in the Senate -
[P]rovisions contained in S. 1145, the Patent Reform Act of 2007, that we believe could undermine the competitiveness of U.S. industry and put our members' jobs at risk.
Continue reading "The Patent Union"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:03 AM | The Patent System | Comments (2)
February 5, 2008
Patent Office on Patent Reform
USPTO management posted on its internal agency website a position statement concerning changes in
pending patent law. The patent office strongly opposes damages apportionment,
while supporting the new post-grant opposition regime.
Continue reading "Patent Office on Patent Reform"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 8:14 PM | The Patent System | Comments (2)
Lack of Consensus
Senate
Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy recently released a
Senate status summation on S. 1145, the Patent
Reform Act of 2007. It shows a diversity of comprehension, misunderstanding, and uncertainty by
various senators. Meanwhile, the White House chips in.
Continue reading "Lack of Consensus"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:19 AM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
February 4, 2008
800 Pound Gorilla
In
a
letter from U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur
to the U.S. Attorney General, regarding Micrsoft's "market dominance," in
context of its acquisition of Yahoo! -
As part of its effort to dominate the high technology sector, Microsoft is seeking to fundamentally transform the treatment for those entities that infringe on the intellectual property of other innovators by minimizing the damages the victim could receive and to ensure that the potential for harassment would extended dramatically by allowing for virtually endless attacks on patent validity.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:46 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
February 3, 2008
Busted
The
Electronic Frontier Foundation is a
self-appointed busybody for relieving owners of their intellectual property
whenever possible. Their Patent
Busting Project aims at "illegitimate" computer-related patents. EFF modus
operandus is filing reexamination requests on "particularly egregious patents;"
namely, those where the owner raises an enforcement stink, and EFF thinks it has
dug some decent prior art.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 3:21 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
February 2, 2008
In A Hurry
Two former patent office commissioners show themselves as shoddy analysts in
their capacity as toads for the corporate special interest group
Coalition for
21st Century Patent Reform. But in doing so, they prove the hoary adage that
every once in a while, even a blind pig finds an acorn.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:54 AM | The Patent System | Comments (7)
January 31, 2008
Justification, Please
From
a study prepared for the Biotechnology Industry
Organization (BIO):
There is a lack of evidence that justifies overhauling the patent system in a way that could potentially disrupt the incentives of industries that rely on patents to innovate... The empirical data which is being used to justify the need for overhaul either has serious methodological limitations or is non-existent... It cannot be said, with any degree of certainty, that there is or is not a problem with patent quality, patent thickets, litigation abuses, or any other potential impediments to innovation and successful commercialization... There is no basis to believe that the proliferation of patents is hindering research.
Implementing overhaul measures aimed at weakening patent rights and enforcement mechanisms is dangerous because innovation often depends on strong patent rights and enforcement mechanisms. The danger to innovation increases when overhaul is implemented without methodologically sound empirical data.
Continue reading "Justification, Please"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 8:17 PM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
January 29, 2008
Outside Looking In
Gernot
Pehnelt wonders in the
DesMoinesRegister why the U.S. Congress is hell-bent to deform the patent
regime.
The American system is regarded as the strongest protector of patent rights in the world. Unfortunately, the U.S. Congress is considering "reforming" the system... Proposed changes could have potentially devastating consequences to research-based industries, especially the pharmaceutical industry... The patent-reform bill would reduce incentives to perform research and development, threaten jobs at home and abroad and damage trans-Atlantic trade relationships, which have brought wealth and vital goods to the United States and Europe.
By passing the Patent Reform Act of 2007, Congress would replace many of the best aspects of the U.S. patent system with the worst aspects of the European system.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 6:22 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
January 27, 2008
Reminder
In
the Christian
Science Monitor, Alexander Poltorak, CEO of General Patent Corporation,
reminds Congress of the fundamental nature of patents, and reminds us of the
craven corruption of our elected officials in sucking up to a narrow but
well-moneyed special interest.
A self-proclaimed goal of the Patent Reform Act is to decrease patent litigation. But lawmakers have forgotten that a patent does not even give an inventor the right to practice the patented invention – only the right to exclude others from practicing it.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 8:50 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
January 24, 2008
Non-Smoking
Short of white smoke emanating from the Dirksen Senate Office Building, widespread predictions are spreading around Washington, D.C. that Senator Leahy now has slightly more than the 60 votes needed for cloture - the procedural vote to permit rapid Senate passage of Leahy, S. 1145 patent reform legislation. Everyone expects that if cloture succeeds, there will be some changes made in the bill (presumably already agreed upon behind closed doors). Swift House passage of the revised Senate version is expected in press reports.
Continue reading "Non-Smoking"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 4:28 PM | The Patent System | Comments (6)
January 23, 2008
On the Agenda?
Nevada
Sen. Harry Reid, majority leader,
jaw-jawed his Senate colleagues yesterday. After remarks about the economy
swirling the rim, native American health care, spying on other
countries, and building more weapons, Reid sandwiched "patent reform and an
energy package" in the same paragraph, because they go together like a fish
needs a bicycle.
On patent reform, we must carefully strike the right balance with a bill that promotes rather than blocks innovation from enterprising entrepreneurs.
Continue reading "On the Agenda?"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:39 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
January 22, 2008
Begging Equity
Biomedical
Patent Management is begging the Supreme Court to waive patent sovereign
immunity in the cause of fairness. But fairness matters not a whit when pitting
the state's self-interest against anything else.
The state looks after itself; citizens are just cows to be milked. Patent infringement
impunity is entitled under sovereign immunity.
Continue reading "Begging Equity"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 5:09 PM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
January 18, 2008
Fervor
Let
us praise CEO
Jean-Pierre Garnier and IP VP Sherry Knowles of
GlaxoSmithKline for carrying the torch as they
scorch Senate Judiciary Committee bigwigs who have flipped their wigs to sashay
with a toupee because of what they forgot to say; to aver the stead of not
giving the PTO its head in capricious rulemaking.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:08 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
January 17, 2008
Deform Ahead?
2007
may have passed, but the Patent Reform Act thankfully didn't. Passed in the
House last session 220-175, it never made it to floor of the Senate in the 110th
session. But it's not dead:
key
senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee remain committed to passage.
Continue reading "Deform Ahead?"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:16 AM | The Patent System | Comments (2)
January 10, 2008
Green Over Patents
Bruce
Springsteen once wrote: "Poor man wanna be rich; rich man wanna be king; and a
king ain't satisfied 'tll he rules everything." In their raw lust for hegemony,
creating "a new category of reportable transaction" for tax-related patents, the
IRS resembles Springsteen's rich man.
Continue reading "Green Over Patents"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 5:03 PM | The Patent System | Comments (4)
January 4, 2008
Chop Chop
Former
Chinese Senior Judge Yongshun Cheng mocks the scurrying of the puffy white
baboons in the large rotunda building in the U.S. capitol. Judge
Cheng figures that the patent reform proposals before Congress "will weaken the
right of patentees greatly, increase their burden, and reduce the remedies for
infringement; friendlier to the infringers than to the patentees in general as
it will make the patent less reliable, easier to be challenged and cheaper to be
infringed."
Posted by Patent Hawk at 9:09 PM | The Patent System | Comments (2)
January 3, 2008
Whoa!
The National Association of Patent Practitioners
(NAPP) has
written Senate leaders to set them straight about proposed patent
legislation: "the problem is that essentially all of the major proposals in the
current bill would weaken patents."
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:58 PM | The Patent System | Comments (18)
December 31, 2007
Rear View 2007
2007
was a raucous year for patents. The high courts and patent office shuffled the
deck chairs like madmen. Patents sleazed and slimed in the hallowed halls of the whores of Congress.
Business as usual as a few patents went big bang for the buck, while others
crashed on the shoals of a new artificial reef called KSR.
Continue reading "Rear View 2007"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:27 PM | The Patent System | Comments (4)
December 29, 2007
Packing Heat, Not Light
Sen.
Patrick Leahy [D-VT] and Sen. Orrin Hatch
[R-UT] were
kissing each other's ass on the Senate floor December 18. The comity is
affecting, but these guys are dangerous goons, given to impulsive action:
"urgent need to modernize our patent laws," they quiver. The real urgent need is
not to screw inventors into the ground to pacify serial patent infringers.
Continue reading "Packing Heat, Not Light"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:06 AM | The Patent System | Comments (2)
December 23, 2007
Proposed Patent Reform and the Market for Ideas
Back in September, Dennis Crouch published a good summary of the patent reform legislation. In an earlier post, I described how the Internet, by reducing the transaction costs associated with identifying valid patented technology, is facilitating an emerging market for ideas. Patent reform legislation obviously has the potential to either promote or destroy this emerging market. Here are a few thoughts on how the specific proposals for patent reform would affect the emerging market for ideas.
Continue reading "Proposed Patent Reform and the Market for Ideas"
Posted by Michael Martin at 11:51 AM | The Patent System | Comments (5)
December 8, 2007
Patent Blog Troll
Anti-patent
blogger Patent Troll Tracker (PTT), notoriously anonymous, has generated a lot of
heat and little light in his spat with hugely successful patent litigator
Ray Niro. PTT
flatters himself that Niro put a $5,000 bounty out to identify him. Niro
nails PTT with "I view these people [anonymous bloggers] as know-nothings,
afraid to reveal their identity." Niro's missed opportunity was coining the term
"patent blog troll," for patent bloggers who aren't patent practitioners. What
special level of hell would
Dante have reserved for the anonymous patent blog
troll?
Continue reading "Patent Blog Troll"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 6:06 PM | The Patent System | Comments (8)
December 4, 2007
Patent Tax
The United States' best known
racketeering syndicate turns its green eye of
jealousy towards patents: the IRS wants to know of any transactions
under the aegis of a tax-related patent. As David Boundy at Cantor Fitzgerald wondered: "20%-off-sales at
Sears of dishwashers covered by patents could become transactions that have to
be reported to the IRS. Has the entire executive branch taken leave of its
senses?" Who said there was ever any sense to take leave of?
Posted by Patent Hawk at 4:33 PM | The Patent System | Comments (4)
December 3, 2007
Opprobrium
Patent rube Viet D. Dinh in the right-wing
American
Spectator sucks corporate fumes for air as he goes gung ho for the sorriest
patent legislation since 1793.
An example of the litigation abuse engendered by the current system is the rise of "patent trolls," speculators who acquire and sue bona fide patentees but neither contribute to or otherwise expand the marketplace of ideas nor increase or improve consumers' choices. These speculators profit at the direct expense of consumers and risk-taking inventors and investors.
Wrong. Many inventors must rely upon patent enforcement firms, as they do not have the resources to practice their inventions, and infringing corporations more often than not refuse to negotiate patent licenses, relying upon their overwhelming financial resources to crush inventors in legal costs. Besides, patents are a commodity (that's why they are called "intellectual property"), subject to free trade; only a fascist would want it otherwise.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:27 PM | The Patent System | Comments (2)
November 27, 2007
Coase, the Internet, and a Market for Ideas
The Internet is changing the economic costs and benefits of many activities in our society. The economics of innovation are changing too. The result could be the emergence, for the first time in history, of an efficient market for ideas.
Continue reading "Coase, the Internet, and a Market for Ideas"
Posted by Michael Martin at 10:36 AM | The Patent System | Comments (5)
November 20, 2007
Taxing Patent Reform
Another bullet dodged
as the Patent Reform Act of 2007 crumbles to dust; three years' running of the
Senate failing to do something really stupid about patents; the House, being
ever slightly more craven to special interests, had no trouble wallowing to the
lowest common denominator of patent idiocy. Post-grant opposition and damages
apportionment were the Senate's statutory showstoppers. So, not this calendar year, it seems, but
expression of commitment for patent reform simmers in the Senate before the
110th Congress checks out. What's getting a real head of steam is scratching out tax patents.
Continue reading "Taxing Patent Reform"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:25 AM | The Patent System | Comments (2)
November 15, 2007
Crying Time
In
facilely reasoned tones, Cisco general counsel
Mark Chandler pleads in the San Francisco Chronicle for indulgence to pass
sorry legislation gutting patent enforcement. Simple logic, and history, defy
the stance of those serial infringers who would denigrate patents and rig the
system to their advantage.
Continue reading "Crying Time"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:33 AM | The Patent System | Comments (2)
November 14, 2007
Smoking Obama
Barack
Obama, a former law professor, still a first-term senator, and now a reputedly charismatic but greenhorn
presidential candidate, supports patent extravagance and band-aids: gold-plated
patents, and a new post-grant opposition proceeding by the PTO. The more robust
idea of an overall better examination regime via turfing out the clowns now
running the show either hasn't occurred to him, or isn't splashy enough.
Continue reading "Smoking Obama"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:54 PM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
November 13, 2007
Impunity
The
patent police state known as the USA is enshrined in the Constitution:
sovereign immunity. The 11th amendment immunizes those sanctioned by the
State from infringement accountability. Example: the University of California is
an 800-pound patent gorilla that can't be touched, but gets all the bananas it wants.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 8:25 PM | The Patent System | Comments (2)
November 9, 2007
Opposition to Opposition
The
United States currently has a sufficient open-ended post-grant opposition
process in the form of inter partes re-examination. So, does the proposed
statutory reform for a different protocol make sense?
Dale
Carlson in the National Law Journal: "The recent experience of three Asian
countries that have implemented, and subsequently abolished, patent opposition
systems signals a resounding 'No.'"
Continue reading "Opposition to Opposition"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:44 PM | The Patent System | Comments (6)
November 8, 2007
Money Talking
Thirty-one
venture capitalists wrote Senators Leahy and Specter, opposing major
portions of the Patent Reform Act of 2007: damages apportionment; open-ended
open-season post-grant challenge; and lowering the standard for inequitable
conduct.
Continue reading "Money Talking"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:12 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
November 6, 2007
Tick-Tock
The
clock runs low on the Senate shoveling the shyst numbered S. 1145. Heavy heels
dug in on both sides, a bridge between nowhere in sight. "Damages apportionment"
rightfully is the big stalemate. As in the past two years, statutory patent
deformation withers on the vine of irreconcilable contention.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:06 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
November 5, 2007
Goliaths
Dan
Leckrone of The TPL Group
opines in the
San Francisco Chronicle:
High-tech Goliaths who routinely flaunt the law by abusing their market power are consistently rebuked for regarding themselves as being "above the law" - and justifiably so. The Patent Reform Act now up for vote in the U.S. Senate is but the latest blatant example of how Goliaths are wielding their power to smother innovation. Indeed, the Goliaths seek a major overhaul of our patent system that would pave the way for them to roll over competitors by misappropriating their intellectual property.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 9:40 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
October 30, 2007
Patent Fairness
Economist
Pat Choate has produced a
research paper for the
U.S. Business
and Industry Council (USBIC), examining "the arguments in favor of patent
“reform” that are being spread by the
Coalition for Patent Fairness (CPF), the organization representing Big Tech
corporations on the issue." USBIC President Kevin Kearns asks the large-issue
questions:
These Big Tech multinationals were themselves start-ups with a few patents and a few dreams not that long ago, and do not need to alter the U.S. patent system to conform to their business model at the expense of other models. Simply put, do some of the most profitable corporations in America need to add marginally to their bottom lines by undermining the patent protections that a full range of other companies depend upon for their livelihood – not to mention their employees? Having made it to the top, should they be permitted to deny the next generation of small technology innovators the opportunity to climb the American ladder of success?
Continue reading "Patent Fairness"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 3:17 PM | The Patent System | Comments (3)
October 27, 2007
Crusader
Hal
Wegner
sallies forth with a missive to John Whealan, former USPTO
Solictor, now on the Senate majority staff.
Twenty months ago in your role as the Solicitor for the United States Patent and Trademark Office you addressed the Bar Association of the District of Columbia; you spoke against a statutory elimination of excessive continuations applications because of an Agency "bubble" problem, while asserting that the Congress would clearly support repeal of multiple continuing applications – that your former Agency is now eliminating through rulemaking you helped craft in your former role.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:48 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (1)
October 26, 2007
Beyond Black Thursday
Hal
Wegner on the bigger picture:
The Continuation Rules are the current focus of attention absorbing the attention of the patent community - will "Black Thursday" actually transpire next week, November 1st, when the Continuation Rules are scheduled to take effect? Will there be a preliminary injunction to block implementation? What, ultimately, will the Federal Circuit say about all this?
Continue reading "Beyond Black Thursday"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:53 PM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
October 24, 2007
Rabble-rousers
The
Innovation Alliance squared off
with the Coalition for Patent Fairness
today. Chorused together, the sound is a keening for change, but not the slop
that sits on top of S. 1145, the Senate companion to H.R. 1908.
Continue reading "Rabble-rousers"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:51 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
Hockey Helmets and Patent Markets
What
do patent owners have in common with hockey players?
Continue reading "Hockey Helmets and Patent Markets"
Posted by Michael Martin at 7:56 AM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
October 23, 2007
Speculator
Bruce
Sewell, Intel general counsel, wailed in Washington Monday about "people
who buy up patents for the purpose of litigating them. We're not talking about
individual inventors who sue for patent infringement. We're talking about patent
speculators who warehouse patents and use those patents to go after successful
companies."
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:22 AM | The Patent System | Comments (6)
October 13, 2007
Post-Grant Pogrom
The
Patent Reform Act of 2007 carries an effective presumption of patent agency
incompetence by offering a post-grant opposition challenge, a more hellish
version of the current reexamination action that works just fine. An innocent inventor
with a newly minted patent faces a corporation hell-bent on taking the patent
out of the picture, so the corporation files a post-grant opposition, a process
that ties up the patent for five years or more while costing the inventor up to
a half million dollars to defend his patent grant; not a cheery prospect
many inventors could afford.
Continue reading "Post-Grant Pogrom"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:55 PM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
October 12, 2007
Hucksters
In
a woe-is-us shuck-and-jive press release, the same folks that'd have you think
ethanol from corn is a good idea want the Patent Reform Act of 2007 to pass as a means of eviscerating patent enforcement. "American
Corn Growers Association (ACGA)... does not oppose new technology such as
GMOs, but we must... level the playing field for small farmers." Leveling
the playing field means
getting the same subsidy for infringing intellectual property that corn farmers
receive for growing their crops in the first place; looking to Uncle Sam for
another hand-out. That's why it's called "free enterprise."
Posted by Patent Hawk at 3:32 PM | The Patent System | Comments (3)
October 2, 2007
Useless Patents
Steve
Perlman is a Silicon Valley computer maven, who helped colorize the Macintosh
back in 1986, and invented WebTV. In the British online publication
The Register, whose byline is "Biting the hand that feeds IT," Perlman
extols the reality of the Patent Deform Act of 2007: "This is isn't pharm versus
high-tech. This is people who need patents versus people who don't need
patents." That includes those in the
Coalition for Patent Fairness, a corporate lynch mob who'd rather be free to steal IP than
have license to protect it.
Continue reading "Useless Patents"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:06 PM | The Patent System | Comments (2)
September 12, 2007
Hardball
Seems
as if Rep. Howard Berman pulled out all the stops to get H.R. 1908 passed.
Berman reportedly nudged the opposition with gentle persuasion: "This is very
important, and you have other stuff in front of me." Democracy at work. Read the
full report from Lawrence Ebert at IPBiz.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 8:34 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
September 8, 2007
Watch the Gobblers
With
the House having dumped its patent load, aka passed H.R. 1908, eyes roll to the
Senate, to watch how S. 1145 fares, the Senate counterpart.
Hal Wegner
prognosticates in emphatic italics: "It is absolutely certain that H.R.
1908 as passed by the House will never be finally enacted into law
without significant amendments. Passage of a differently worded bill in the
Senate as S. 1145 or some future or amended bill would then lead to a Conference
or other means for creation of a common bill."
Continue reading "Watch the Gobblers"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 5:44 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
September 7, 2007
Through A Goose
The
House approved H.R. 1908, 220-175. Rep. Howard Berman, D-California, a lead
sponsor, honked: "The moment is ripe to move the patent system forward to meet
the challenges of the 21st century. Serious flaws have to be fixed for our
system to remain robust now and long into the future."
Continue reading "Through A Goose"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:26 PM | The Patent System | Comments (2)
On the Floor
H.R.
1908 is scheduled to be wheeled on the floor for all to view and comment; one
hour of debate allotted. Here is a fresh
legislative bulletin listing last-minute tweaks.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:29 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
September 6, 2007
Chiming In
In
a
statement of administration policy, the White House calls the apportionment
of damages portion of H.R. 1908 "unwarranted and risks reducing the rewards from
innovation." Otherwise, niggling concerns aside, it's pretty much along for the
ride.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 3:30 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
Angst
The
House vote on H.R. 1908, the Patent Reform Act of 2007, is scheduled for Friday,
but rumors are flying that the Democratic leadership will pull the bill because of
voiced opposition by organized labor. Trepidation is palpable.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:29 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
September 4, 2007
The Breeze
The
Washington Post summarizes the polarity between serially infringing computer
companies and patented-up big pharma towards the Patent Reform Act of 2007. The
House is expected to take up the patent cudgel
this Friday,
while the Senate lolls. The Congressional Budget Office thinks the cost impact
on the government of the Act would be "negligible,"
and that's as far as they care to peruse.
Meanwhile, James Malackowski, CEO of patent broker
Ocean Tomo, reminds what's at stake.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 9:46 PM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
September 2, 2007
In the Know
If there is any single interest group sincerely interested in a quality
patent regime for its own sake, as point of professional pride, it is patent
examiners. POPA, the examiners' professional organization, is firmly against the
Patent Deform Act of 2007.
What is most significant is that no one in Congress thought to ask POPA, as the statutory sausage had been stuffed by bribes from geek boys in the computer biz who just want to get on with da bidness of intellectual property theft, and paying no mind, or tab, for doing so.
Continue reading "In the Know"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:12 AM | The Patent System | Comments (7)
August 31, 2007
Semi-Officially Toast
The
Patent Reform Act of 2007 is all but defunct. Yesterday, leading House
Republicans
wrote Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader, and solicitously requested to
knock it off. It's all over but the lobbying.
Continue reading "Semi-Officially Toast"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:00 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
August 27, 2007
Engineering Failure
In
a letter to Sen. Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader:
IEEE-USA, which represents the interests of more than 215,000 engineers, scientists and allied professionals in the U.S., opposes the Patent Reform Act of 2007 (S. 1145). We believe that much of the legislation is a disincentive to inventiveness, and stifles new businesses and job growth by threatening the financial rewards available to innovators in U.S. industry. Passage of the current patent reform bill language would only serve to relax the very laws designed to protect American innovators and prevent infringement of their ideas.
Continue reading "Engineering Failure"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 3:34 PM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
Derail?
The bipartisan
money-grubbing-from-IT-corporate-lobbyists legislation commonly known as the Patent
Reform Act of 2007 is "hitting resistance," according to the
Wall Street Journal, "because of concerns the U.S. might be exposed to
greater foreign competition." It seems that some members of Congress have been
reading The Patent Prospector, and
more ought to.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:00 AM | The Patent System | Comments (2)
August 24, 2007
Bifurcate the Patent System?
Patent
Hawk and I both believe in the value of the patent system for the United States.
More specifically, I don't think it absurd to suggest that the phenomenal
industrial growth we've seen in the United States since the 19th century has
been due in part to the incentives created by the patent system. Where Patent
Hawk and I may disagree, however, is on the question of whether uniformly
stronger patents are good for our economy. In particular, I believe that the
recent Supreme Court cases and PTO rulemaking cutting back at the scope of
patent protection may be beneficial for some high-growth markets in our economy.
Continue reading "Bifurcate the Patent System?"
Posted by Michael Martin at 10:08 AM | The Patent System | Comments (5)
August 20, 2007
Net Gain
David
Vandagriff of Helius figures that the
major players in the push for "patent reform" realize a net gain if patent
enforcement is gutted: "None of the major backers of the current patent reform
legislation have any real stake in improving the patent system. Microsoft, Intel
and Cisco don't owe any of their success to the patent system. Each of these
companies grew large without relying on patents to do so. While they may
currently have patent portfolios, these companies have created and maintained
those portfolios for defensive purposes."
Posted by Patent Hawk at 4:25 PM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
August 19, 2007
Patent bill jeopardizes life sciences innovation
Sidney
Taurel of Eli Lilly writes in the
Indianapolis Star: "The Patent Reform Act of 2007 would greatly limit the
damages many inventors could receive when their patents are violated, and create
a new administrative process for attacking patents via the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office - without court protection."
Continue reading "Patent bill jeopardizes life sciences innovation"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:26 PM | The Patent System | Comments (2)
August 17, 2007
Worldwide Patent Picture
The
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has released its 2007 edition of
worldwide patent activity, with built-in pendency: the report covers 2005 and
earlier. The upshot - "Trends in patent activity are a reflection of the
transition currently occurring in worldwide industrial activity. Very high
growth rates in the use of the patent system can be observed in North East Asian
countries, particularly the Republic of Korea and China."
Continue reading "Worldwide Patent Picture"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 9:23 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
August 4, 2007
This Pendulum Swing
Once
upon a time, erstwhile inventive companies grew fat, smug, and arrogant. Though
a few created revenue streams from patents, all were constantly pestered with
infringement assertions. Mega-corporations banded together, finding common cause
in pouring money into poisoning the patent well - trying to gut patent
enforcement, make the so-called "sport of kings" an even higher-stakes "spoils
of the mighty."
Continue reading "This Pendulum Swing"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 6:17 PM | The Patent System | Comments (4)
July 31, 2007
For the Hoopleheads
The number of patent cases and the size of damages and settlements in the United States in just the past few years have been staggering. Without desperately needed reform, our patent system will continue to be a burden on our courts and our nation's top employers — putting at risk innovative technologies, our nation's economic growth and good-paying jobs.
Even the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized these problems. The justices themselves widely criticized the current system. Chief Justice John Roberts called it "worse than meaningless."
With so much at stake, Congress should stand on the side of innovation and working families and pass the Patent Reform Act.
- Mr. Ted Clark, senior Vice President at Hewlett-Packard, in the Houston Chronicle
Continue reading "For the Hoopleheads"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 4:28 PM | The Patent System | Comments (3)
The KSR Trend
KSR
is taking a mounting toll on patents and patent applications. To soon for hard
statistics, but the trend is palpable. The
Wall Street
Journal today notes the killing fields that courts are becoming in patent
litigations. The patent office has become an obviousness connoisseur, savoring
the many ways of snuffing applications like wind-blown candles, based on KSR-provided
attack angles.
Continue reading "The KSR Trend"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:26 AM | Litigation | Comments (0)
July 28, 2007
Patent Deform
Some
patent infotainment in
today's Wall Street Journal letter page, as
David Vandagriff of Helius gets
his licks in on Bruce
Sewell, Intel patent clown, for being such a corporate slut. On the same
page, James McKeown writes like he has a head on his shoulders, until he
suggests "eliminating the District Court in the Eastern District of Texas, which
has made a booming cottage industry out of encouraging patent infringement
litigation."
Continue reading "Patent Deform"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:37 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
July 26, 2007
Laboring over Patent Reform
The
AFL-CIO, taking the manufacturing industries view, writes
a letter to the Hill on the Patent Reform Act of 2007, hitting the high
points of what's wrong with the bill.
Continue reading "Laboring over Patent Reform"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 8:12 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
July 23, 2007
Silk Purse from a Sow's Ear
The
Patent Reform Act of 2007 is hopefully too wretched and controversial to become
law, but it has laid out a trough for the swine known collectively as the
Congress of the United States. As one onlooker observed, "The controversy certainly is
a good income stream for the politicians." Invitations are flowing to interested
parties to attend breakfasts and receptions at $1,000 on up, for the chance to
hobnob for a moment with an esteemed Senator or Congressperson, mouthing
patent-reform-this or patent-reform-that to a pair of deaf ears attached to a fattening
piggy bank.
Continue reading "Silk Purse from a Sow's Ear"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:44 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
Foreign Glee
Manufacturers in foreign countries,
particularly export engines China and India, are savoring the prospect of the Patent Reform Act of 2007 becoming law, particularly
provision for cheap post-grant assault, as it entangles patent holders with
invalidity challenges at no risk and at lower cost than litigation. The
Economic Times gives Indian drug companies a heads-up that "patent reform is
beneficial to Indian companies, as they are usually not patent holders, and are
often excluded from the US market by the threat from weak patents."
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:09 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
July 20, 2007
Is the House getting it right on patent reform?
Buchalter Nemer attorney
Richard Ormond
surveys the House version of the Patent Reform Act of 2007, in an article
published today in
ComputerWorld, reprinted here with permission.
Continue reading "Is the House getting it right on patent reform?"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 7:24 PM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
July 18, 2007
Momentum
Moving
towards passage, the full House Judiciary Committee unanimously tossed the Patent Reform Act
of 2007 to the House floor earlier today,
while the Senate debates the
legislation today, with upshot tomorrow.
A number of computer technology companies, ongoing targets for infringement suits, coalesced into lobbying groups, including the Coalition for Patent Fairness and Business Software Alliance; hankering to elude patent enforcement, they are delighted with the bill's progress. "Today's successful mark-up demonstrates Congress’ seriousness in dealing with the overwhelming need for balanced and comprehensive reform," tooted Jonathan Yarowsky, counsel to the Coalition for Patent Fairness.
Other companies that rely upon patents for their business model, including cell phone innovation gnome Qualcomm, and major pharmaceutical & biotechnology companies, are askance. Kevin Kearns, president of the U.S. Business and Industry Council, ostensibly on behalf of the manufacturing sector and small companies, tore into the haste of passing the Act, calling it "a rush project... that could cripple American innovation."
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:26 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
July 15, 2007
In Over His Head
"Today,
over all, patents don’t work." Today's
New York Times patent dribble is by word jockey Michael Fitzgerald, who
knows nothing about patents, but helps pay the mortgage by penning an article
reporting research by other guys who know nothing about patents. The fly in the
ointment of the article is confusing statistics with reality: there is no "over
all" to patents "working".
Continue reading "In Over His Head"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:09 AM | The Patent System | Comments (4)
July 13, 2007
Sphinctering Venue
The
Patent Prospector was forwarded a perspective on restricting venue for
patent litigation in yesterday's markup of the Senate version of the Patent Destruction Bill of
2007.
Continue reading "Sphinctering Venue"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 7:42 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
Apocalypse Now
In
today's Washington Times, Republican Rep.
Dana Rohrabacher fires both barrels:
[T]here are powerful forces, especially in the electronics industry, that would dramatically change, if not destroy, the patent system that has served us so well for over 200 years. [Proposed in the legislation is] a new review process, allowing for challenges to patents that have already been granted. The leverage this would give to large companies with an array of lawyers is evident. Small inventors will be harassed and bogged down until they eventually surrender to deep-pocketed opponents.
[T]he legislation being foisted upon us... has nothing to do with fixing the system. It has everything to do with weakening the rights of the small inventor, using problems at the Patent Office as a screen to mask this power play.
Why is this happening? The electronics industry does not want to pay royalties. That's really the bottom line.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 7:25 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
July 12, 2007
Patent Nonsense
Bruce
Sewell, senior VP and general counsel of Intel, assumes the missionary
position in the
Wall Street Journal: "The number of questionable, loosely defined patents is
rising." Try that on anyone knowing the examination rigor now applied at the USPTO, and see
the response: "what planet did you drop in from?" Is Sewell
a shill, knowingly peddling patent propaganda, or just ignorant?
Continue reading "Patent Nonsense"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:03 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
July 4, 2007
Strong, balanced patents are an American innovation
"Abusive
patent litigation and low patent quality are stifling innovation. One questionable patent can restrict innovation and competition. Why innovate or take the entrepreneurial risk of making products if it just
increases the risk of costly litigation?"
Continue reading "Strong, balanced patents are an American innovation"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:25 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
June 21, 2007
Rushed & Wrong
Kevin
Kearns at the Washington Times tells us what he really thinks about the
proposed Patent Reform Act of 2007: "patent nonsense [that] has suddenly
become a rush project in the Senate and House committees of jurisdiction."
Continue reading "Rushed & Wrong"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:42 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
June 20, 2007
Drowning
Smelling
blood in the water, sharks circle the wounded whale known as the Patent
Reform Act of 2007, S. 1145 and H.R. 1908. Over 200 organizations write
Judiciary committee chairmen and leading committee members of both houses to
exclaim the need to erase major proposed changes to current patent law.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 5:44 AM | The Patent System | Comments (6)
June 18, 2007
Pen Pal
For all the pontificating he is doing, hyperactive CAFC Chief Judge Michel
might want to consider blogging.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:07 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
June 13, 2007
Undertaking
A
couple of nails showed up near the coffin of the Patent Reform Act of
2007, placed by CAFC Chief Judge Paul Michel, who is turning into quite the
patent mover and shaker (last
month's letter). Michel's keyboard begs to type the adjective "stupid" in
describing the proposed revision to § 284 on damages, something Michel himself
parlays with but a tad more reserve.
Continue reading "Undertaking"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 4:15 PM | Damages | Comments (0)
June 11, 2007
Undead
A
majority of the Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee - Coburn,
Grassley, Kyle, Sessions and Brownback, wrote Senate Judiciary Chairman Leahy
and ranking committee Republican Arlen Specter, observing that
last week's
hearings rendered obvious that the Patent Reform Act of 2007 is badly done.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 5:25 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
June 10, 2007
WSJ on Patents
Pro-get-on-with-the-business organ The Wall Street Journal made bird noises about patents
Saturday: hooting at the
ITC
injunction against Qualcomm, and squawking about patent battles.
Continue reading "WSJ on Patents"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:06 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
June 6, 2007
Not Its Time
Single-mindedness
was not on the agenda. Legislation in the making, and only the sausage maker
beams and winks knowingly as too many patent chefs stir the gumbo. The thankful
result of today's Senate hearing is watching the Patent Reform Act of 2007
appear the statutory tub of lard that it is.
Continue reading "Not Its Time"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 8:22 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
May 23, 2007
Damaging Portions
On
May 3rd, Chief Judge Paul Michel at the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
(CAFC)
wrote Senators Leahy & Hatch on two issues in the Patent Reform Act of 2007,
specifically, interlocutory appeals, and apportioning damages; bad
ideas, pens Michel.
Continue reading "Damaging Portions"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:54 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
May 17, 2007
Between the Lines
John
Sullivan, General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC), has
penned a
note of support for its child, the patent office, and sent it off to those
good folks on the Hill considering
patent reform.
Continue reading "Between the Lines"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:22 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
May 15, 2007
Urging A Rethink
A
group of 111, the Innovation
Alliance, oriented towards biotechnology companies, but representing a
variety of viewpoints,
voices concern to Congress that significant portions of the Patent Reform
Act of 2007 are wrong-headed.
Continue reading "Urging A Rethink"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 5:00 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
May 14, 2007
The Dynamics of Obviousness
The
Supreme Court ruling in
KSR v.
Teleflex unleashed wide-ranging dynamics: diminishing the value of patent
portfolios, helping and hurting start-up companies, and promoting generic drugs.
Continue reading "The Dynamics of Obviousness"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:30 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
May 11, 2007
Damaging Damages
Belying
its own legislative heritage, the bipartisan Patent Reform Act of 2007 grossly
complicates patent infringement compensation, moving from the current reasonable royalty to
an outrageous conjecture for a damages award "applied only to that economic
value properly attributable to the patent’s specific contribution over the prior
art." This economist throws his head back in laughter at this little obscenity
of insensibility, reminiscing about the scalding apportionment suffered over 60
years ago.
Continue reading "Damaging Damages"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:01 AM | Damages | Comments (0)
May 7, 2007
Keeping the Software Down
In spite of the Supreme Court broadly opining
in 1980 that "anything under
the sun made by man is patentable," the SCOTUS ruling in
Microsoft v.
AT&T on April 30 was designed, from a patent standpoint, to maintain relegation of software as a second-class
technology.
Continue reading "Keeping the Software Down"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 8:31 PM | Case Law | Comments (0)
April 28, 2007
The Patentability Bar & Recourse
Hal Wegner figures the problem with junk patents is not that they are
occasionally
granted, which is inevitable, or that the bar of patentability is
too low (it isn't), but that the adjudication of patents is an expensive crap
shoot. The crap shoot owes to the lack of a dedicated patent court. Barring
judicial reform, Hal contemplates post-grant review as a reasonable stop-gap.
Continue reading "The Patentability Bar & Recourse"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 8:13 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
April 27, 2007
Sausage in the Making
Hal
Wegner reports on yesterday's patent reform hearing: Before an overflow
hearing room on an internationally available web broadcast, Chairman Howard
Berman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee relevant to patents hosted a most
informative and candid hearing yesterday afternoon joined by roughly ten of his
committee colleagues, including Rep. Dan Issa, undoubtedly the most
patent-interested member of Congress in some time (and like Abraham Lincoln an
inventor-user of the patent system).
Continue reading "Sausage in the Making"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:08 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
April 19, 2007
Patent Reform Act of 2007
A
unified, bipartisan Patent Reform Act of 2007 emerged from both the House &
Senate yesterday. Much of it is an improvement, but a bit of it is an abortion
of sensibility.
Continue reading "Patent Reform Act of 2007"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 8:45 PM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
April 17, 2007
Patent Reform Principles
Numerous vested interests
vie to skew statutory patent reform, many aimed
at advancing parochial self-interest, all the while advertising the guise of
equity. But, if equity and practicality were the goals, what principles should
guide patent reform to realize the Constitutional mandate, and what are the implications of those guiding principles?
Continue reading "Patent Reform Principles"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:28 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
April 15, 2007
Patent Harmonization
In
IP Law 360, patent prosecutor Scott
Harris of Fish & Richardson hammers against the U.S. harmonizing its patent
laws with other countries, especially against enhancing the certainty of patent
enforcement and minimizing litigation cost.
United States patent law has a goal of protecting the inventor and the invention - no matter how much that protection will complicate the patent system.
Continue reading "Patent Harmonization"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:32 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
April 4, 2007
Blowback Dynamics
The
appeals court
SanDisk ruling regarding declaratory judgment has a least one commenter
consternated.
David Fox of
Fulbright & Jaworski whines in
IP Law 360: "SanDisk is
likely to have a very strong adverse impact on small technology companies and
universities that may not have the means to defend their patents in declaratory
judgment actions. The decision will likely result in the inability of of such
patentees to license patents, especially to large companies. This could have a
profoundly negative effect on the development of technology in the United
States." If there's a kernel of truth in Fox's Chicken Little declaration, it's
good news disguised as bad news.
Continue reading "Blowback Dynamics"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:09 AM | Patents In Business | Comments (0)
March 29, 2007
Hatch-Waxman Extension
Merck
sued Hi-Tech Pharmacal for patent infringement. Hi-Tech replied: patent expired.
Merck said it had an extension, and the district court agreed. So Hi-Tech
appealed (CAFC 2006-1401).
The CAFC ruled:
[As to] whether a patent term extension under the Hatch-Waxman Act, 35 U.S.C. § 156, may be applied to a patent subject to a terminal disclaimer under 35 U.S.C. § 253, filed to overcome an obviousness-type double-patenting rejection[: b]ecause the language of § 156 is unambiguous and fulfills a purpose unrelated to and not in conflict with that of § 253, we hold that a Hatch-Waxman term extension may be so applied.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:23 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
March 28, 2007
Self Serving
IBM IP suit David Kappos mealymouths patent reformist sentiments, hard-pedaling statutory patent reform with soft-core reasoning. BusinessWeek's latest pro-corporate missive: It's Time for Patent Reform. Computer technology anti-patent sycophants at least may eat this up.
Continue reading "Self Serving"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:37 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
February 19, 2007
Transformation
Bernard Bilski helped the USPTO set up an appeals court review of statutory subject matter - 35 U.S.C. §101. Bilski claimed a method of economizing in managing risk; more simply, simply a method of doing business. Self-admittedly, the claims aren't tied to any physical structure, don't recite a transformation of matter, nor even of computer data. The patent appeals board rejected Bilski's claims as unpatentable. A case with considerable intrigue, it raises the question of whether the patent office is attacking its pendancy problem by attempting to scotch business method patents.
Continue reading "Transformation"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 5:13 PM | § 101 | Comments (0)
February 14, 2007
Patenting DNA
In
case you missed it, Kevin Noonan's blog post yesterday "Science
Fiction in The New York Times," about
Michael Crichton's NYT op-ed folly, is highly recommended. Related is H.R.
977, intended to stop genetic patents; coverage by Stephen Albainy-Jenei at
Patent Baristas.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:24 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
February 12, 2007
Patent Reference
Patent Reference is a new site that aims to be a smorgasbord patent reference. The site is currently in beta, and it shows. Hopefully the user interface will mature.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:14 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
February 8, 2007
Patent Reform (Again)
In
a retread of the Patent Reform Act of 2005, the U.S. Congress House Judiciary
Committee is holding a hearing on patent reform next Thursday (Feb. 15). Though
basically a revisiting, the differences between now and 2005 is that Democrats
are now in charge, and something may get passed.
Continue reading "Patent Reform (Again)"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:38 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
January 30, 2007
The Patent Troll Myth
Emory
law student James F. McDonough III has written an excellently researched paper
on patent licensing companies, titled "The
Myth of the Patent Troll: An Alternative View of the Function of Patent Dealers
in an Idea Economy."
Continue reading "The Patent Troll Myth"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:18 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
January 7, 2007
Maca
Bioprospecting
is back in the news, with maca as the spearhead (pun intended). Maca is supposed
to boost stamina, particularly sexually. Why would anyone be interested in such
a thing?
Posted by Patent Hawk at 3:50 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
January 6, 2007
IncreMentalAdvantage
IncreMentalAdvantage
offers seminars on different aspects of the patent game, including litigation
and overall patent strategies, IP valuation & patent monetization. The seminars
are geared towards corporate IP counsel; fitting, as law firm attorneys benefit
from understanding that perspective, as well as the conferences offering
networking potential for prospective clients and service providers.
Continue reading "IncreMentalAdvantage"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:28 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
January 1, 2007
2007
Injunctive
relief, extraterritoriality, claim construction review, patent monetization,
prosecution ways and means, and getting drugged are patent events and trends to
watch for in 2007.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:07 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
December 2, 2006
The Coalition for Patent Fairness
My
email box on Thursday had two quite contrasting emails: one from The Coalition
for Patent Fairness, a corporate lobbyist group for self-interested "patent
reform;" and, in harsh rebuttal, Ron Riley of The Professional Inventors
Alliance.
Continue reading "The Coalition for Patent Fairness"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 5:58 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
November 3, 2006
The Media Trap
Paul
McDougall of Information Week gets the Bad Patent Article of the Week award.
Congratulations Paul! Paul titled his little ditty, "How
To Avoid The Patent Trap," but of course the article isn't about that; it's
a hodgepodge of Paul's confusion, carping, misinformation, and miscellaneous
tidbits, with, admittedly, a couple worthy paragraphs. Let's get bitchy...
Continue reading "The Media Trap"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 4:30 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
October 2, 2006
Rocket Docket Bill Passes House
H.R.
5418, for a pilot project of throwing spare change at federal district courts to
streamline patent litigation, passed by voice vote in the House today.
Continue reading "Rocket Docket Bill Passes House"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 3:20 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
September 13, 2006
Rocket Docket Stuck on the Launch Pad
After
revisions following a July markup, Rep. Issa's
rocket docket patent bill passed the House Judiciary Committee unanimously
Wednesday. But it's unlikely to become law this year, because the Senate
companion bill, shepherded by Sen. Orrin Hatch, is a sleeping sheep.
Continue reading "Rocket Docket Stuck on the Launch Pad"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:46 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
August 21, 2006
Sailing Towards Patent Reform
The
strongest push for patent reform came from large computer technology companies; as
serial patent infringers, troubled at continually facing the prospect of
injunctions granted by the CAFC nearly automatic like a dog. The solution worth
bribing for - get Congress to pass a new law gutting patent enforcement. Then
came the Supreme Court in
eBay v. MercExchange, "case law" being the accurate euphemism, which took
the wind out of the sails for legislative patent reform.
Continue reading "Sailing Towards Patent Reform"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:02 AM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
August 9, 2006
Protecting its Own
By
the power of the XI Amendment to the Constitution, the United States indemnifies
its states. Protected by the Constitution, a state may infringe a patent without
practical remedy afforded the patent holder, the Federal Appeals Court
affirmed today (05-1440).
Continue reading "Protecting its Own"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:57 AM | Case Law | Comments (0)
August 5, 2006
Senate Patent Gutting Bill
Anne Broache of CNET News.com waxes optimistic by reporting that "the U.S. patent system could be inching closer to an overhaul long desired by the technology industry," but otherwise gives a good synopsis of the dead-on-arrival Hatch-Leahy bill, which seeks to eviscerate patent enforcement. Could be a good calling card to solicit campaign contributions, but thank goodness these corporate toads' efforts are for naught, at least this year.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:18 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
July 15, 2006
Tax Patent Hearing
At
the House Ways & Means Select Revenue Subcommittee hearings Thursday over tax
patents, USPTO mouthpiece, General Counsel James "The Mouse That Roared" Toupin
said, in essence, "not our problem."
Continue reading "Tax Patent Hearing"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:00 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
July 12, 2006
PTO Web Chat Snafu
Today's
intra-patent office news: "Because of technical difficulties with our software
program, today's web chat on telecommuting programs with Under Secretary Dudas
was suspended." Over 300 people had logged in for today's chat.
Continue reading "PTO Web Chat Snafu"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 7:24 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
July 11, 2006
Tax Patents
The
House Ways & Means Select Revenue Subcommittee is holding hearings Thursday into
patents claiming tax processes. The worry is whether such patents contribute to
tax avoidance (as in: duh), and whether it could make the IRS's job of blocking
tax shelters more difficult.
Continue reading "Tax Patents"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:19 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
May 28, 2006
Patent Crisis of the 1830s
David
French, an Ottawa patent attorney for
Milton, Geller, has written a fascinating paper on the
U.S. Patent Crisis of the 1830s, historical continuity, and parallels to
today's patent reform issues.
Continue reading "Patent Crisis of the 1830s"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:45 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
May 23, 2006
Rocket Docket Bill
H.R.
5418 arrived late last week, aimed at improving patent jurisprudence at the
trial court level.
Continue reading "Rocket Docket Bill"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:40 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
May 10, 2006
Amish Attitude
Andis
Kaulins has declared "A
Constitutional Chaos" over granting patents for high-tech inventions.
"Software patents... are garbage." The patent office is "clueless," as is the
entire U.S. legal community, including Congress and the courts.
Continue reading "Amish Attitude"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:06 AM | The Patent System | Comments (2)
May 6, 2006
Trolls, Toads & Rats
Some
weekend rambling about patent trolls, toads and rats, beginning with patent troll
James
Fergason, aiming to help other patent trolls. Way to go
James.
Continue reading "Trolls, Toads & Rats"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:12 AM | The Patent System | Comments (5)
April 2, 2006
Both Sides Now
Lorraine
Woellert stirs a patent gumbo in her
March 31 BusinessWeek "news analysis" of eBay v. MercExchange. "Patent
trolls don't get much sympathy -- except maybe from the Supreme Court." Is
Lorraine suggesting the heresy that lack of sympathy for patent trolls is
misplaced? That patent trolls deserve the same legal rights as any patent owner?
Continue reading "Both Sides Now"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:01 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
March 22, 2006
Founding Father Foolishness
Law
professor Adam Mossoff has written an excellent, well-researched paper: "Who
Cares What Thomas Jefferson Thought About Patents: Reevaluating the Patent
"Privilege" in Historical Context" (available
here).
Continue reading "Founding Father Foolishness"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:19 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
March 13, 2006
Hotheads
Mercury
is the planet closest to our sun; very hot. Hotheads from Mercury immigrated
here, settling in hot and sunny San Jose, California, and started their own news
organ: The Mercury News. Having been on Earth for a while now, the hotheads are
starting to form opinions, often not very good ones.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 9:53 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
March 11, 2006
Harvesting Fruit
"[P]atents don't stimulate innovation; they stifle it. The notion of "intellectual property rights" is spurious. The principle of property is needed for physical objects because they are finite; hence property rights prevent conflicts over the use of things. But ideas can be reproduced infinitely and used simultaneously without conflict. Hence, as Thomas Jefferson realized, "Inventions then cannot, in nature, be a subject of property."" [from The Free Liberal, March 9, 2006]
Continue reading "Harvesting Fruit"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:30 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
March 2, 2006
The Blame Game
Awakened
from my slumbers reporting settlements between patent-laden computer companies
and a Supreme Court ruling that patents by themselves weren't so great as
to grant market power, I find blogging attorneys bit by Wall Street
Journal venom.
Continue reading "The Blame Game"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:32 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
February 25, 2006
Patent Trolls Feed on Technology
It
must be true. I saw it on TV. CBS News
got the skinny on how the patent system is broken, resulting in patent
trolls pillaging companies with their patents on "technology ideas." Say it
ain't so.
Continue reading "Patent Trolls Feed on Technology"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:07 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
February 22, 2006
Patent Office Blows Patent Reform Raspberry
Patent
Commissioner John Doll's viewpoint on the need for Congress to pass patent
reform legislation: no thanks, we've got it under control. To patent applicants,
Doll says: "do some work for us."
Continue reading "Patent Office Blows Patent Reform Raspberry"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 8:28 PM | The Patent System | Comments (2)
February 14, 2006
The Fountain of Junk Patents
Got a call from a U.K. solicitor (attorney) for a prior art search. Any art up to the day before the patent filing date would invalid the patent. By comparison, what we quaintly regard as prior art is a statutory sham designed to create junk patents, particularly in rapid-development industries such as software. The U.S. patent emperor is scantily clad, and Congress is the tailor.
Continue reading "The Fountain of Junk Patents"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:05 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
February 13, 2006
Incentives
Jackson Lenford of Right to Create bemoans that the USPTO is the only U.S. government agency to make a profit, and will be allowed in FY2007 to keep what it earns. "If... the USPTO relies only on funding from patent applicants, it is beholden to no one but patent holders, and becomes the poster-child example of regulatory capture." The only capture in this is a mind like a steel trap.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:47 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
February 6, 2006
U.S. Patent Court
Rep.
Darrell Issa (R-Ca) is mulling a patent trial court for the United States.
Britain established its Patent County Court in 1988, and Japan set up its
Intellectual Property High Court in April 2005. The European Commission is
contemplating a continent-wide patent court system. Should the U.S. follow suit?
Continue reading "U.S. Patent Court"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:04 AM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
January 6, 2006
Patent Reform Coming Together?
Divergent legislative styles in the U.S. House & Senate may dim the prospect of patent reform legislation passage in 2006.
Continue reading "Patent Reform Coming Together?"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:07 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
December 21, 2005
Thicket Headed
BeavisWeek seems dedicated to publishing absurd opinions about patents.
This week's scatological blunder, "Cutting
Through the Patent Thicket", is by Greg Blonder, who claims to have grown up
with patents, but still doesn't seem to understand them.
Continue reading "Thicket Headed"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:56 AM | The Patent System | Comments (6)
December 16, 2005
Ivory Tower Patent Reform
Three
law professors have
proposed
a bifurcated quality patent examination system: vetted and niggardly.
Continue reading "Ivory Tower Patent Reform"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:07 AM | The Patent System | Comments (3)
December 4, 2005
Patent Ignorance Pending
The L.A. Times had, as one of its unsigned Sunday editorials, "Patent Sanity Pending". Let's pick apart the foolish presumptions therein.
Continue reading "Patent Ignorance Pending"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:34 PM | The Patent System | Comments (39)
December 3, 2005
Uncertainty
The prospect of passage of the Patent Reform Act of 2005 will soon expire with the year-end congressional recess, but the impetus for patent reform won't. One driving force is the myth that the current patent system retards innovation by granting bad patents. The issue to address is not an imbalance between promoting innovation and protecting the rights of patent holders, it's in strengthening patent validity by reducing uncertainty.
Continue reading "Uncertainty"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:22 AM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
November 11, 2005
First-to-File Unconstitutional
The Patent Reform Act of 2005 proposes provisions that would change the granting of patents from the so-called first-to-invent system to a first-to-file system. The first-to-file provisions of the Act violate Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution, which limits Congress to granting patents only to "Inventors". A system enacted by Congress for granting patents to anyone other than a good faith inventor would be unconstitutional.
Continue reading "First-to-File Unconstitutional"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:08 AM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
September 16, 2005
Patent Reform Under Attack
The Patent Reform Act of 2005 took flak in Congressional hearings on Thursday.
Continue reading "Patent Reform Under Attack"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:07 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
September 6, 2005
Court Legislation
Courts are forced to interpret a law only because a law requires interpretation. In effect, the judiciary necessarily acts as a legislature when the legislature abdicates. Case in point: 35 U.S.C. §271(a).
Continue reading "Court Legislation"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:01 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
August 31, 2005
Don't Fear Software Patents
Above is the title of an editorial in the August 30, 2005 Wall Street Journal by Bruce Lehman, former Commissioner of the Patent Office.
Continue reading "Don't Fear Software Patents"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:26 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
August 29, 2005
Trolls on the Hill
Webster's
defines a troll from its origin in 1616 as "a dwarf or giant in Scandinavian
folklore inhabiting caves or hills". Take a gander at Rep. Chris Cannon, a
legislator on Capitol Hill.
The press is the fourth estate, one of the essential pillars of democracy in keeping the public informed. Let's check in on how the fourth estate is being tended in Salt Lake City.
Continue reading "Trolls on the Hill"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:01 AM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
August 24, 2005
What Patent Crisis?
At Progress & Freedom Foundation's (PFF) annual conference yesterday, Nathan Myhrvold, formerly chief technologist at Microsoft, now leading the charge at Intellectual Ventures, called off the dogs of patent reform.
Continue reading "What Patent Crisis?"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:09 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
August 1, 2005
Another Dodo?
The Patent Reform Act of 2005 may die a quiet death. Here's a well-written news update by Shawn Bullard of The Professional Inventors Alliance USA, published in the U.S. Newswire (reprinted with permission).
Continue reading "Another Dodo?"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 4:58 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
July 22, 2005
Unloading the Dice
How issues are framed determines the measures that Congress considers in legislation. Step one for political lobbyists is framing the issue, so as to ease the real task - swallowing the biased proposal for change. Biasing framing the issue leads to a connect-the-dots to the desired change (desired by the lobbyist's client). What a crooked game with loaded dice.
Continue reading "Unloading the Dice"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:02 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
July 20, 2005
Oh Say Can You See
A Library of Congress report, titled Patent Reform: Innovation Issues, well researched and written by Wendy Schacht and John Thomas, is crucial reading for anyone interested in the U.S. patent system and reform thereof.
Continue reading "Oh Say Can You See"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:02 AM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
July 8, 2005
U.S. News & Jackass Report
U.S. News & World Report is an exemplary case study in American news periodicals, particularly its descent from being one of America's few respected "hard" news journals in the 1960's into something else entirely: "People" for business people, by the end of the 1970's. Of course, circulation and popular taste dictate success; hence the change in "tone". Decades later, the slide continues; at least some things are predictable.
Continue reading "U.S. News & Jackass Report"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:10 AM | Prosecution | Comments (0)
May 15, 2005
The Constitutionality of Robbing The Patent Office
"The Congress shall have Power... To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;"
- U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8
Continue reading "The Constitutionality of Robbing The Patent Office"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:23 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
May 13, 2005
Did A Mid-90's PTO Hangover Incite Patent Reform A Decade Hence?
The evidence is anecdotal. Patent examination may have been particularly slack in the early to mid-1990s, which perhaps resulted in a rash of flimsy patent enforcement cases in the past several years that have incited catcalls for patent reform to remedy the granting of weak patents. But that stalking-horse is already back in the barn.
Continue reading "Did A Mid-90's PTO Hangover Incite Patent Reform A Decade Hence?"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:02 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
May 10, 2005
A New Film Experience in Surreal-O-Vision
Microsoft U.K. is sponsoring a film festival on intellectual property theft, offering a £2,000 prize for the best film raising awareness on this very sexy topic.
Continue reading "A New Film Experience in Surreal-O-Vision"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:00 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
May 9, 2005
A Modest Suggestion
The prospect of corporate-sponsored patent law mangling is weighing heavily on those who care about a fair patenting regime.
Continue reading "A Modest Suggestion"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:43 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
The Pith of Patents
With regard to patents, the Jedi mind-shit seems to have worked - there is widespread misunderstanding about the very nature of patents, gullible minds warped, the truth obscured by the propaganda of serial patent poachers - that is, frequent corporate patent infringers, who coined and cry "patent troll".
Continue reading "The Pith of Patents"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:01 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
May 2, 2005
Patent Economics: Part 6 - The Importance of Patents
Before the 1500's, an average human's prospect for prosperity was stagnant. Beginning around 1820, the pulse of economic development quickened, with the Industrial Revolution in England coming into full stride. What changed?
Continue reading "Patent Economics: Part 6 - The Importance of Patents"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:00 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
April 28, 2005
Behind The Catcalls For Reform - Post-Grant Opposition
Corporate crusaders for patent reform seem to have political momentum for post-grant patent opposition through a so-called "administrative procedure", separate from infringement litigation. The obvious motivations are for infringers to short-circuit the infringement litigation process, become the plaintiff, and save themselves money, all at the expense of the patent holder. As an ace hole-card, it also weakens the commodity market for patents. Most significantly and insidiously, it corrupts the patent system.
Continue reading "Behind The Catcalls For Reform - Post-Grant Opposition"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:21 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
April 27, 2005
Behind The Catcalls For Reform - Granting Junk Patents
There are two supportive bases for patent reform: 1) a presumption of junk patents - that is, that many granted patents are invalid in light of the prior art; 2) the cost of enforcement - actually, from the so-called corporate reformers' viewpoint, the cost of defense. In this installment, disabusing the notion that the patent office grinds out junk.
Continue reading "Behind The Catcalls For Reform - Granting Junk Patents"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:02 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
April 24, 2005
Patent Economics: Part 5 - Theories
There are several different interrelated theories about patents. Some consider a patent as a natural right, to be able to own and profit from one's invention. In securing a property right, a patent solves the inventor's dilemma, providing a commercial platform for promoting technological innovation, even though some see patents as an obstacle to innovation. Certainly a patent is a business tool, as it offers potential for profit through licensing, and the prospect of a defensive shield against patent assertion by others (countersuit).
Continue reading "Patent Economics: Part 5 - Theories"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:02 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
April 17, 2005
Patent Economics: Part 4 - Incentives
There are at least four incentives that justify a system of granting patents. These incentives are: (1) an incentive to invent; (2) an incentive to disclose; (3) an incentive to commercialize, and (4) an incentive to workaround. The core argument in justifying a patent system is that these incentives would be lessened or lacking without patents.
Continue reading "Patent Economics: Part 4 - Incentives"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:11 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
April 15, 2005
Patent Economics: Part 3 - The Inventor's Dilemma
Given that substitution inherently limits the monopoly power of patents (as explained in part 2 of this series), here we consider how patents provide economic benefit to a patent owner and society. Consider the counterfactual case of invention in a society that does not offer a patent grant. An inventor without access to patent protection faces the inventor's dilemma.
Continue reading "Patent Economics: Part 3 - The Inventor's Dilemma"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:47 AM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
April 8, 2005
Patent Economics: Part 2 - Substitution
A monopoly can only be sustained if there is no substitute for a good. For example, for a consumer wanting to rid its household of mice, in a competitive market, mouse traps are cheaper than keeping a cat. But a monopolistic mouse trap maker could charge only up to the point where it was cheaper to have a cat, or whatever else works as a substitute for a mouse trap. So, a monopolist's exclusionary power only extends as far as the limited availability of substitutes for the good over which the monopolist has control. The more substitutes that are available, the more competitive a market becomes. Substitution is a key aspect in considering patents as a monopoly.
Continue reading "Patent Economics: Part 2 - Substitution"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:03 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
April 6, 2005
Patent Economics: Part 1 - Market Monopoly
This begins a series on the economics of patents. This first installment explains the economics of market monopoly, to be contrasted with patent economics in succeeding installments.
A patent is widely considered a monopoly, and though it smacks of truth, the reality is not so simple. Monopolies are generally ill-favored, as, at least in theory, they raise prices above what would naturally occur in a competitive market. Anti-patent ravers stake their rationale against patents as representing monopoly power that unduly costs society. A further contention, espoused most fervently nowadays by anti-software patent advocates, is that patents have the perverse effect of retarding innovation, rather than actually encouraging it. With some grounding in economics, specifically market monopoly, and an understanding of the economic nature of patents, one sees the "evil patent monopoly" viewpoint as gross overstatement.
Continue reading "Patent Economics: Part 1 - Market Monopoly"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:38 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
April 1, 2005
Everyday Fools
There is a constant stream of diversion in the press - diversion from the real to news. Diversion in the form of creating the bad and howling at it, because good is not news.
The patent system is broken. Software and business methods patents are bad. Patent trolls are raping legitimate businesses. Do you smell someone cutting a self-serving diversionary stinker? If not, read on.
Continue reading "Everyday Fools"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:23 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
March 25, 2005
PubPat Spits at Microsoft
The Public Patent Foundation (PubPat), self-proclaimed patent Chicken Little, is blowing the whistle on Microsoft for 6,101,499, titled "Method and computer program product for automatically generating an Internet Protocol (IP) address", a patent granted in August 2000 that's still slumbering.
Continue reading "PubPat Spits at Microsoft"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:01 AM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
March 22, 2005
D.C. Patent Troll Hoedown
Patent trolls and their detractors, often the same thing, convened en masse last week in our nation's capitol to lament their own existence. The original patent troll spotter, Peter Detkin, did a fancy lexicographical dance. Only one opinion was not heard: that the U.S. patent system is thriving. Thriving, except for/because of (you decide): patent trolls.
First, a history quiz question: who was the world's most prolific patent troll?
Continue reading "D.C. Patent Troll Hoedown"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:02 AM | The Patent System | Comments (2)
March 15, 2005
Who are the patent trolls?
The oddest thing about the patent game is casting moral aspersion about exercising one's legal rights.
The basic rules are simple: a patent is an alienable right of monopoly, a tradable commodity of the most flexible sort. But, the way the game is played, holding a patent is like owning an oil patch - it takes capital investment to drill for the gusher. Often the capital investment can be quite substantial, to the tune of a few million in litigation fees.
Continue reading "Who are the patent trolls?"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:44 PM | The Patent System | Comments (1)
March 14, 2005
Whence The Patent Prospector
It's a little hard to imagine an attorney who wouldn't enjoy a soapbox, at least once in a while. That's what The Patent Prospector is intended to be, an open forum, for those who don't want to constantly blog, but occasionally chime in.
Continue reading "Whence The Patent Prospector"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 9:29 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
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