This story from the New York Times talks about how the US gov't is considering re-evaluating the patent office, and possible changes that might be put in place. The patent office has remained largely unchanged since it was established, and still had the majority of its patent applications in physical form until three years ago. Patents sent in can stay filed for months or years before being processed, long after the original opportunity had vanished. The number of patent applications is constantly growing, from 950 a day in 1997 to more than 2000 a day this year. Despite this staggering growth, the number of examiners has only increased by 25% over the last few years, and the backlog of patents is constantly growing. Although the office makes a lot of money from application fees, congress continues to divert its profit to other projects, rather than allowing it to use the money to improve or hire more people.
I definitely think a change in the way patents are handled is needed, especially with things like software patents. The patent office was originally set up to help inventors have some control over their inventions. Today, it's mostly used by large companies to protect their profits. Because of the way patents work, many companies find it easier to patent a large amount of software, and then make money by suing companies that try to use similar software, or through licensing fees. Despite never actually creating the product, the companies have the rights to it awarded to them by the patent office, and can profit off patents without actually making anything. Although change would be a good thing, the article mostly talks about improvements in the efficiency of the office. The continuing growth of technology is making the old patent office more and more obsolete, and I think a complete overhaul would be a more appropriate solution
No comments:
Post a Comment