Either fix the patent system or allow the US economy to suffer

Posted Apr 26, 2011 9:50 UTC (Tue) by copsewood (subscriber, #199)
In reply to: Yes, fix the patent system by david.a.wheeler
Parent article: A victory for the trolls

Allowing software development and use to become more expensive in the US will be the price you have to pay if you don't fix your patent system. From this side of the Atlantic we have our own threats to counter in relation to preventing development of a similar patent regime in Europe, and the worse it gets in the US the more the campaign against poor quality patents in Europe is strengthened. From this side of the pond, US specific patent problems can seem a somewhat localised issue, especially given that the litigation can occur parochially in the state jurisdiction with the most patent friendly courts. I can't begin to imagine why trade throughout the US relating to the patent in dispute should be dictated by the outcome in a state court in any case.

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Either fix the patent system or allow the US economy to suffer

Posted Apr 26, 2011 10:51 UTC (Tue) by drag (guest, #31333) [Link] (3 responses)

It's not up to us. If it was then it would be a solved problem.

The court system is it's own system with law based on precedent. It's independent from any sort of democratic influence. It would require a major legislative effort to change this and that is not going to happen any time soon.

What is really required is that if you have a project or a company that wants to be innovative or produce competitive products then the best thing that can be accomplished is to not base it in the USA.

Either fix the patent system or allow the US economy to suffer

Posted Apr 29, 2011 3:42 UTC (Fri) by jtc (guest, #6246) [Link] (2 responses)

"What is really required is that if you have a project or a company that wants to be innovative or produce competitive products then the best thing that can be accomplished is to not base it in the USA."

Is the US really that much worse than other developed nations? I thought the EU, for example, also had problems with software patents. Is their system much less problematic than ours (US)? I'm asking because I'm really not very familiar with the situation outside of the US.

Either fix the patent system or allow the US economy to suffer

Posted Apr 29, 2011 8:56 UTC (Fri) by copsewood (subscriber, #199) [Link] (1 responses)

There are efforts to introduce software patents into Europe. In some cases inventions are patentable due to a combination of software and hardware. I'm sure patent officers and lawyers would love to have a similar software patent regime in Europe to the US. But by and large, software patents have been resisted in Europe, with the EU parliament opposing introduction of software patents the last time this was voted on, with the commission (which tends to be more professional lobbyist influenced) having tried to open the way for software patents.

Either fix the patent system or allow the US economy to suffer

Posted May 5, 2011 21:47 UTC (Thu) by Wol (subscriber, #4433) [Link]

Software patents are actually EXplicitly FORBIDDEN by the European Patent Treaty.

So unless they can get round it by claiming it's "not a pure software patent", then any software patent has been illegally issued. That doesn't stop them, though :-(

Cheers,
Wol