Obama Signs Dramatic U.S. Patent Reform Into Law

[Guest]

The America Invents Act brings US patent law in line with the rest of the world

Obama Signs Dramatic U.S. Patent Reform Into Law : Read more

 

[Ridik876]

TL;DR - Frivolous lawsuits will continue.

 

[Guest]

Patents stopped protecting small inventors a long time ago. Now they protect large companies like Intel and Microsoft from competition because they sue small companies out of existence before they ever get big enough to compete.

*in before the conservatives start acting like one of their candidates would've bent over less for the big corporations*

 

[jonyb222]

Won't this promote a "File and forget it" approach?

On a side note it probably won't as it's what the rest of the world is doing but it *sounds* like it would

*edit, I had a longer text, shortened it*

 

[mightymaxio]

Oh gawd its gonna turn into the European union lawsuits all over again.

 

[LORD_ORION]

What a surprise

Cloud + New Patent Law = Corporations always win.

I can see it already where the likes of google or MS snoop on your content you are paying them to host, and then patent it themselves.

 

[user_ace]

i guess this will finally force me to patent that automatic toilet paper dispenser i invented in high school... where did i leave those blue prints?

 

[mattmock]

This system may work in other countries, but when you combine it with other aspects of U.S. patent law it could be a disaster. In the U.S. you can get patents on a huge diversity of things including business plans and on very simple things. This leads to patents on things like "Selling things on website using a checkout button" and "Entering a name into a Videogame." The first to invent system acted to prevent some of these ridiculous patents by allowing them to be invalidated by showing how the idea was already in use Now the first smart-ass to file for some common action described in fancy language will get to patent troll everyone else.

 

[bustapr]

I was hoping theyd do something to prevent stupid illogical general idea patent filings.

 

[stevo777]

"Detractors of the system contend that it essentially skews the business environment in favor of large corporations, at the expense of individual entrepreneurs and small startup companies."

Yeah, detractors like pretty much every individual entrepreneur and small startup company.

 

[bak0n]

Why does it matter? It's not like China following any IP law from the states if it'll make them money.

 

[beenthere]

In principle good, in practice this will be a disaster for small guys.

 

[sykozis]

How exactly has the US had a "First to Invent" style patent system? The "First to Invent" system would actually require the company to "invent" something at some point. Apple hasn't actually invented anything, but holds countless "proof of concept" patents...which don't require them to ever actually make use of said patents.

 

[shin0bi272]

just another step towards total government control. Now the government will have to step in to stop disputes when big companies file a patent that they can afford to file for that they saw someone else invent but didnt have the money to patent (like me if they ever catch wind of my ideas). Then the next step is that the government will take over the patent process and then its a short hop to the government will confiscate for a period of years to collect the revenue it generates so they can spend it on giving money away to people who didnt work for it.

 

[einheriar]

[citation][nom]MattMock[/nom]This system may work in other countries, but when you combine it with other aspects of U.S. patent law it could be a disaster. In the U.S. you can get patents on a huge diversity of things including business plans and on very simple things. This leads to patents on things like "Selling things on website using a checkout button" and "Entering a name into a Videogame." The first to invent system acted to prevent some of these ridiculous patents by allowing them to be invalidated by showing how the idea was already in use Now the first smart-ass to file for some common action described in fancy language will get to patent troll everyone else.[/citation]


Well it depends on how you look at it.. In european patent law yiou can go about claiming every piece of written software code- So the amount of software patents is fortunately low in comparison to the usa. In europe most software development falls under the text copywrite protection. As they say software is more like a written novel than a real invention. That is why courtcase about software patents take place in the usa, where they allow every bit of crap to be filed as a patent and this givng companies like microsoft and apple a way to sue their competion into oblivion or handing the rights over to their respective software Borg collective.

 

[einheriar]

[citation][nom]shin0bi272[/nom]just another step towards total government control. Now the government will have to step in to stop disputes when big companies file a patent that they can afford to file for that they saw someone else invent but didnt have the money to patent (like me if they ever catch wind of my ideas). Then the next step is that the government will take over the patent process and then its a short hop to the government will confiscate for a period of years to collect the revenue it generates so they can spend it on giving money away to people who didnt work for it.[/citation]

An amazing view especially because if tehir is one country in the world in controk by multinationals it is the USA.. And you expect it this way to become even worse?

 

[madjimms]

Guys, before you get all whiny & bitchy please note that he could be trying to make the patent system less corporate oriented. All the conservatives complain no matter what he does, good or bad!

 

[azgard]

[citation][nom]MattMock[/nom]This system may work in other countries, but when you combine it with other aspects of U.S. patent law it could be a disaster. In the U.S. you can get patents on a huge diversity of things including business plans and on very simple things. This leads to patents on things like "Selling things on website using a checkout button" and "Entering a name into a Videogame." The first to invent system acted to prevent some of these ridiculous patents by allowing them to be invalidated by showing how the idea was already in use Now the first smart-ass to file for some common action described in fancy language will get to patent troll everyone else.[/citation]

Um, prior art would apply just as it always had.

 

[xrodney]

So generally this make current stupid patent system twice even worse.

Unless they change rules on who can be patented and on which basis this will only bring disaster to real inventors.

Of course it will make happy any patent troll.

 

[SteelCity1981]

so now i can just patent an idea by drawing it up on a pice of notbook paper and never put it to use and no one can do anything about it? Wow lets just make the patent laws more moronic...

 

[caparc]

How does this change the definition of "proir art"? I've done some inventing, got a patent, even made a bit of money on my idea manufacturing it myself although I can't say, to this day, that the patent was worth the money because I kept my market by being first, best and disciplined on price. Filing a patent is expensive for garage inventors. It's a safe bet that from the time you start working with a concept until it's perfected enough to make patent claims is going to be a year plus. Does this push inventors to be even more secretive than they already are? The need to hide invention work is a burden on development for a variety of reasons.

Copyright and patent protection are crucial to western civilization. Traditional islamic law is hostile to both. How much literature or technology do nations with that legal tradition produce lately?

 

[alyon]

[citation][nom]greghome[/nom]There are also small companies who's sole purpose is to sue everyone else for cash because of "patent patent infringement"[/citation]

i4i comes to mind. Then again, people glorified them for their settlement with Microsoft.

 

[tajisi]

Instead of a common sense approach that would clear up the trolling lawsuit, we decide to tangle things up a bit more. At least I have my Obamacare and will be able to buy seats in NASA spacecraft around 2015.

 

[msgun98]

[citation][nom]shin0bi272[/nom]just another step towards total government control. Now the government will have to step in to stop disputes when big companies file a patent that they can afford to file for that they saw someone else invent but didnt have the money to patent (like me if they ever catch wind of my ideas). Then the next step is that the government will take over the patent process and then its a short hop to the government will confiscate for a period of years to collect the revenue it generates so they can spend it on giving money away to people who didnt work for it.[/citation]


lol how many more republican and liberatarian meme's can you mash together in one tom's hardware comment?

 

[IndignantSkeptic]

i think this is a very bad idea. what this will cause is that people will keep sueing John Carmack for all his inventions because he invents a lot and doesn't patent anything as far as i know.