tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574479.post8961710320909690277..comments2024-03-28T09:05:22.006+00:00Comments on The IPKat: America's new patent law: will it fly or will it flop?Verónica Rodríguez Arguijohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05763207846940036921noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574479.post-12802743482840408752012-02-27T15:01:54.517+00:002012-02-27T15:01:54.517+00:00It will fly (sort-of) because it is an absolute go...It will fly (sort-of) because it is an absolute goldmine for US attorneys. They can practise on their clients and make mountains of mullah, while trying to get their heads around the thing. While I'm glad to see some aspects (e.g., the end of "first to invent", very American in both its idealism and impracticality), I think we'll be nostalgic for the old mess before too long. <br /><br />Last Friday, there was a presentation which was organised by the Swiss Patent Office: <br /><br />https://www.ige.ch/en/training/news/news-details/news/seminar-aenderungen-im-us-patentrecht-am-24022012-auf-enlisch-21032012-auf-franzoesisch-2/165.html <br /><br />The presenter, a Swiss who is a US attorney based in St. Gallen, seemed pretty bullish about the whole thing. When he was asked how the notoriously incompetent (and frequently downright dishonest) USPTO was going to handle all this, he said that the USPTO will have the authority to set its own fees (big ones - compare the USPTO's post-grant review fee (somewhere in the region of $US35,000) to the EPO's €705 opposition fee). The extra income will allow for better training of Examiners, more Examiners, better computer systems, etc (the things David Kappos wanted to do, before Congress plundered his budget some time ago). <br /><br />A German patent attorney back in 1975, when Munich had just won the right to be the location of the EPO, said "It will take decades!" to get the EPO going. But will it work? he was asked. "Of course it'll work!" he said, "the German Government will make it work!" Thus it will be in the USPTO - they'll muddle through on a large scale. <br /><br />Many Americans believe that their patent system is the envy of the world. But then, many Americans also believe that they have been abducted by aliens. Given the bizarre alien nature of the current line-up of Republican Presidential hopefuls, I tend to believe that the latter might well be true. Perhaps Obama has no need to sing the blues: <br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLzECY8sYpEAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com