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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
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Friday December 29 2017, @11:43PM
> or more accurately people who vote for Congressmen who don't push for patent reform.
Sorry, this is not a reasonable expectation. I'd love to vote for Pirate Party candidates, but I have never seen any on the ballot.
Have to fight this in other ways. For instance, asking that MAFIAA and patent troll lawyers be disbarred. Boycotting MAFIAA products and services. Showing artists that they can do just fine without copyright, and they and their children will not starve.
Unfortunately, the whole notion of intellectual property pushes our buttons in all the worst ways. People hate, hate, hate to suffer any kind of material loss. Dressing ideas up as "property" which can then be "lost" triggers all manner of furious defenses of property rights. People will rant and rave about theft being out of control and society collapsing, and never notice they've been massively suckered.