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posted by Fnord666 on Friday December 29 2017, @08:08AM   Printer-friendly
from the follow-the-money dept.

Why don't more low-quality patents get rejected? A recent paper published by the Brookings Institution offers fascinating insights into this question. Written by legal scholars Michael Frakes and Melissa Wasserman, the paper identifies three ways the patent process encourages approval of low-quality patents:

  • The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is funded by fees—and the agency gets more fees if it approves an application.
  • Unlimited opportunities to refile rejected applications means sometimes granting a patent is the only way to get rid of a persistent applicant.
  • Patent examiners are given less time to review patent applications as they gain seniority, leading to less thorough reviews.

None of these observations is entirely new. For example, we have covered the problems created by unlimited re-applications in the past. But what sets Frakes and Wasserman's work apart is that they have convincing empirical evidence for all three theories.

They have data showing that these features of the patent system systematically bias it in the direction of granting more patents. Which means that if we reformed the patent process in the ways they advocate, we'd likely wind up with fewer bogus patents floating around.

Source : These experts figured out why so many bogus patents get approved


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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by fustakrakich on Friday December 29 2017, @03:50PM (1 child)

    by fustakrakich (6150) on Friday December 29 2017, @03:50PM (#615539) Journal

    it's regulatory capture

    And only the voters can free the government from that trap. If they don't don't it, nobody will. With a 95% reelection rate, where's the incentive to change anything?

    --
    La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
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  • (Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Friday December 29 2017, @04:11PM

    by Nerdfest (80) on Friday December 29 2017, @04:11PM (#615544)

    Very true.