Peer-to-Patent in FoundRead

FoundRead, a weblog catered towards all-things startup, posted an article today in support of Peer-to-Patent. The article, written by Carleen Hawn, focused on the potential benefits Peer-to-Patent can provide to a startup company with a patentable idea:

[You] can submit your magnum opus to a circle of your professional peers, who, in good faith will asses the “prior art” in your field and, collaboratively, determine whether your invention is new enough to sanction with a seal.

The article goes on to describe how peer review can be useful in the patent examination process:

[P]eer reviewing, the reasoning always was, creates opportunities where flaws in one party’s work can be identified and improved upon, ultimately contributing to the collective advancement of scientific research. It’s not a perfect process, but for generations it has worked well.
By mimicking and building on this tradition with technology patents, Peer-to-Patent believes potential conflicts, where a “new’ invention is thougth to infringe on an existing patent, can he identified and resolved early — before they ever spark a glint in some lawyer’s eye resulting in a costly legal contest.

To read the article in its entirety, click here.