[iDC] global rights expropriation in the intersection between
theindustrial and the information ages
Andreas Schiffler
aschiffler at ferzkopp.net
Thu May 24 08:00:55 EDT 2007
Guido Sohne wrote:
>
>> So it comes down to the quality and definition of the service in my
>> view. What could change to make it better:
>> - broad patents should be ignored (or made to expire soon)
>> - expiry should be highly flexible depending on the field of the patent
>> (for example in the information technologies, things 'expire' faster)
>> - patent ownership should come with more obligations on the part of the
>> holders to make use of them
>> - give equal resources to the "voiding a patent" police, as compared to
>> the "grant the patent" process
>
> And here's where the big disconnect comes. If the patent regime is out
> of control, how would you ever be able to reform it to match what you
> speak of; where would the impetus for that change appear from? Does
> that not make rejecting the system completely, the best chance anyone
> has of implementing a better system?
Well, I guess one has to lobby, lobby and lobby again ... and hope for
the best. After all one can find many people and media - from Wired to
the NYT - calling for a patent reform. And this year the US system was
actually changed somewhat for the better (OK, that may be debatable).
The system is a political construct and thus one should be able to
influence its structure using political means. There are also other
stakeholders that may be able to assist in influencing the system such
as inventors and the companies - including the likes of Microsoft and
Oracle who have openly bitched about the system - themselves (although
their proposed changes are likely NOT in the general publics interest
but designed to save them money). It might seem like an uphill struggle,
but it just may work.
And until then, why don't we 'harvest' the publically available patent
information. Such a 'review' process could be implemented in a P2P way
using delegate-and-conquer approach (too bad, the domain
patentharvest.com is already taken by some patent-troll laywers). One
could try to convert the thus-found info into useful bits of ideas, then
create implementation recipes for the people 'on the ground'. Some
practical stuff! After all, I don't think anybody would sue if a patent
based idea is actually implemented by a private hobbyist in a garage
especially when there is no financial gain involved. I think this is the
crux - remove patents from their traditional economic context and the
whole story looks quite different.
--Andreas
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