tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574479.post8171967709623204012..comments2024-03-29T13:59:42.629+00:00Comments on The IPKat: Bad patents -- or bad journalism?Verónica RodrÃguez Arguijohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05763207846940036921noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574479.post-52741299889981972522011-09-03T11:54:32.805+01:002011-09-03T11:54:32.805+01:00IPKat, for an example of IP having different terms...IPKat, for an example of IP having different terms according to subject-matter, take Plant Variety Rights. Potatoes and vines are allowed longer terms than other plants (it takes decades to breed a new potato). That is not to say that differing terms are a good idea - the extra complication would be fun, as always, but not sufficiently beneficial to be worth bothering with.Paddynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574479.post-45255014426698532202011-08-29T07:42:13.888+01:002011-08-29T07:42:13.888+01:00... as for point 6 and "raising the bar"...... as for point 6 and "raising the bar": surprisingly, it doesn't have to make things more difficult - consider limbo dancing ...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574479.post-55250944169478509602011-08-28T21:22:32.331+01:002011-08-28T21:22:32.331+01:00Effectively there are already different time perio...Effectively there are already different time periods for registration for different industries in the EU as exemplified by the SPC system.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574479.post-85951991770555236502011-08-28T16:29:35.209+01:002011-08-28T16:29:35.209+01:00There is a study that produces a figure for the _t...There is a study that produces a figure for the _table_ stake for patent litigation as being $4m. If a large company is involved, value follows pragmatism and for a bad patent an unnecessary licensing agreement is reached. This practice set both precedent and mode music. If a small company is involved and they want to defend their rights they had better be prepared to drop everything and develop a taste for learning about the legal system and re-mortgaging your home (by analogy, see Simon Singh) If a small firm is being accused of infringement give up now. <br /><br />If the patent system didn't need improving, why does the Open Innovation Network continue to thrive? Most charitably it appears to be the least worst way of defending against patent suits.<br /><br />A lot of learned people have written a lot of stuff about why software patents are ridiculous - the most common riposte seems to suggest that the attack is an attack on the entire patent system - as though patent laws are derived in the same manner as are the laws of physics. <br /><br />As Shakespeare so elegantly put it and now, fortunately, out of copyright, nothing comes of nothing, everything has prior art, we can see this as the same ideas have emerged in different parts of the world tackling similar problems - why were both Britain and Germany thinking about using radiowaves to detect aircraft? <br /><br />The first optical fibre might well have ben developed only in 1965 but the theory of circular waveguides was developed in the early 1900s. <br /><br />The legal system sets the threshold for prior art, not natural law. And it sets the thresholds for economic reasons <br /><br />Do _you_ have any criticisms of the current system? Do _you_ have any constructive suggestions for improvements?<br /><br />Or am I seeking answers to those questions in the wrong place?Gentoohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05063939954837162413noreply@blogger.com