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posted by cmn32480 on Sunday May 03 2015, @09:55PM   Printer-friendly
from the make-them-live-under-a-bridge dept.

Timothy B. Lee writes at Vox that the PATENT Act is focused on dealing with patent trolls: fly-by-night companies that get rich by exploiting flaws in the way the courts handle patent lawsuits. If trolls are the primary problem with the patent system, then the PATENT Act will go a long way toward fixing it. But according to Lee patent trolls aren't the primary problem with the patent system. They're just the problem Congress is willing to fix. The primary problem is the patent system makes it too easy to get broad, vague patents, and the litigation process is tilted too far toward plaintiffs. But because so many big companies make so much money off of this system, few in Congress are willing to consider broader reforms.

A modern example is Microsoft, which has more than 40,000 patents and reportedly earns billions of dollars per year in patent licensing revenues from companies selling Android phones. That's not because Google was caught copying Microsoft's Windows Phone software (which has never been very popular with consumers). Rather, it's because low standards for patents — especially in software — have allowed Microsoft to amass a huge number of patents on routine characteristics of mobile operating systems. Microsoft's patent arsenal has become so huge that it's effectively impossible to create a mobile operating system without infringing some of them. And so Microsoft can demand that smaller, more innovative companies pay them off.

But according to Lee there is hope that the courts may help. The most important decision might have been last year's Alice v. CLS Bank ruling, which addressed the patentability of software for the first time. Lower courts are still working out the exact implications of that decision, but the ruling led to the destruction of a dozen software patents within three months. It's likely to destroy hundreds more in the future. "Over the last decade, the high court has handed down a series of opinions that have very slowly corrected the law's pro-patent tilt," writes Lee. "The pro-patent laws that produced today's patent litigation crisis were developed by the courts over a 25-year period, from about 1980 to 2005. Since 2005, the Supreme Court has been working to restore balance to the patent system, but it could take another decade or more for them to complete their work."

 
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  • (Score: 4, Touché) by Nerdfest on Sunday May 03 2015, @10:51PM

    by Nerdfest (80) on Sunday May 03 2015, @10:51PM (#178255)

    That's what's happening already. The little guy really can't afford to fight them in court anyway.

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Tork on Monday May 04 2015, @12:59AM

    by Tork (3914) Subscriber Badge on Monday May 04 2015, @12:59AM (#178284)
    A few simple fixes to the system will correct that. Tearing the system down will make it worse.
    --
    🏳️‍🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️‍🌈
    • (Score: 2) by frojack on Monday May 04 2015, @01:12AM

      by frojack (1554) on Monday May 04 2015, @01:12AM (#178292) Journal

      A few simple fixes to the system will correct that. Tearing the system down will make it worse.

      One would hope so. But some fixes may not be so simple. We are probably free to tinker with the duration.

      There is also this whole problem of Amending the Constitution. But those who want to tear every thing down and just eliminate patents all together probably wouldn't let a little obstacle like a Constitution get in their way.

      --
      No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
    • (Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Monday May 04 2015, @02:32AM

      by Nerdfest (80) on Monday May 04 2015, @02:32AM (#178301)

      I agree, but I don't think the fixes are that simple. The real trick would be getting rid of the vagueness, which is how it's supposed to be anyway.

    • (Score: 2) by Mr Big in the Pants on Monday May 04 2015, @04:04AM

      by Mr Big in the Pants (4956) on Monday May 04 2015, @04:04AM (#178312)

      What a joke.

      Who exactly are making these "little fixes" and what is their motivation?

      Face it, the system is broken because the system administering it is broken. Unless you fix the actual problem you are just deluding yourself.

      The real pain in the arse is how this broken system is being forcefully exported around the world...

      • (Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Monday May 04 2015, @04:38AM

        by bzipitidoo (4388) on Monday May 04 2015, @04:38AM (#178316) Journal

        I agree. Abolish patents, and copyright. At heart, these are systems that default to "no", in order to prevent loss. Such systems are all too attractive. I think there've been a number of psychological studies which show that most people will pass up a chance at a huge gain, in order to avoid a small loss. We're so afraid that the the little guy will be ripped off, have his work "stolen", that we do far more violence to everyone to head off that possibility. It seems not to matter that every year, thousands die of curable diseases all for the sake of drug patents.

        We can fairly compensate artists and scientists, without copyrights or patents. Pay inventors and authors through crowdfunding, awards, and other forms of patronage.

        • (Score: 2) by frojack on Monday May 04 2015, @04:57AM

          by frojack (1554) on Monday May 04 2015, @04:57AM (#178320) Journal

          We can fairly compensate artists and scientists, without copyrights or patents. Pay inventors and authors through crowdfunding, awards, and other forms of patronage.

          Chuckle. Yup that will work.

          One company I'm familiar with Spends up to a billion dollars [ycharts.com] per Quarter on Research and Development. Crowd source that!

          --
          No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
          • (Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Monday May 04 2015, @01:55PM

            by bzipitidoo (4388) on Monday May 04 2015, @01:55PM (#178492) Journal

            Patronage does work. It is working right now. It worked well in the past, and now with so much better communication technology, we can do it much better, make it accessible to everyone, not just rich nobles. It was not copyright nor patents that funded most classical music, nor most scientific work. It was patronage. The entire college and university system is founded on patronage. Are you such a strong believer in copyrights and patents? And DRM, do you believe in that too? Whether or not you think patronage can't work, you have to admit that the copyright and patent system is definitely not working well. Perhaps it can be reformed, but I doubt that. One of the many problems is that the copyright and patent system has been turned upsidedown. Instead of protecting the little guy, it helps big organizations squash them. Instead of promoting progress, it hinders progress. Patronage doesn't have to be perfect, it only has to be better than copyright and patents, a pretty low bar.

            As for your anecdote, should Gilead actually be considered a patron of science and scientists? In that link, there's a short write up at the bottom in which investors are urged to think about whether research should be considered an expense or an investment. But there's no mention of how many patents they have. Why? Patents are too hard to value? No doubt Gilead has thousands. They feel they have to play the patent game too, defensively patent everything they can. Or, is it that patents are not that important for figuring out what shares of Gilead should be worth?

            • (Score: 2) by frojack on Monday May 04 2015, @06:48PM

              by frojack (1554) on Monday May 04 2015, @06:48PM (#178687) Journal

              It worked in the past, because there was nothing better. Matching one rich guy with one struggling artist. (And the rich guy owned the work).

              I repeat my challenge: Crowdsource a billion dollars a quarter.

              I picked just one small company doing drug research. Surely you can muster all the world's enthusiasm and clamoring for patronage and come up with a billion dollars in three months. I'm not expecting you to fund all the R&D done in the US in a single quarter by every company for years in advance. Just one company, just one time, just a demonstrator. In return, I'm sure you could cause the resultant patents to be placed in the public domain.

              You clearly have not a single clue about the scale of the problem at hand.

              --
              No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
        • (Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Monday May 04 2015, @05:32AM

          by maxwell demon (1608) on Monday May 04 2015, @05:32AM (#178327) Journal

          most people will pass up a chance at a huge gain, in order to avoid a small loss.

          That must be why lotteries are hugely unpopular … oh, wait …

          --
          The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
          • (Score: 3, Insightful) by bzipitidoo on Monday May 04 2015, @03:34PM

            by bzipitidoo (4388) on Monday May 04 2015, @03:34PM (#178551) Journal

            Ok, I didn't get the mechanism correct. Nevertheless, the copyright and patent systems appeal to the human anxiety to avoid loss. The supportive thinking that backs copyrights and patents is mostly negative: Stop theft. Stop thieves, big and little, from unfairly profiting from others' hard work. Every unauthorized copy is a lost sale.

            The system is also too individualistic, elevates the mythical lone inventor to hero status, as if inventions happen best in a vacuum, and there was no community of scientists and explorers who collectively figured out hundreds of little pieces of big puzzles, no shoulders of giants to stand on. Another negative aspect is taking the attitude that it is more important to avoid and stop the naysayers who think it can't be done, and the entrenched interests, the "giants standing on your shoulders", who don't want to be disrupted and who will play dirty and stop progress if they are given an opportunity to do so, if it seems to them that will help maintain their hegemony.

    • (Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Monday May 04 2015, @05:29AM

      by maxwell demon (1608) on Monday May 04 2015, @05:29AM (#178326) Journal

      Probably what would need to get fixed is the court system. A court system where you cannot get your right because you cannot afford it is not worthy of the label "justice".

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.