Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) article, The Perspiration of Patenthood (March 2007), writes about the peer-to-patent pilot http://www.todaysengineer.org/2007/Mar/patenthood.asp
"Marconi and Tesla’s bitter race to own the patent for radio seems almost quaint compared with the blatant exploitation on today’s IP landscape. Statistics show that infringement cases are at an all-time high and climbing. They range from matters settled out of court (over 70 percent of all claims) to the high-stakes hairsplitting that reaches the U.S. Supreme Court. So-called patent trolls (trollers, really) are using predatory tactics and threats of injunction to extract licensing fees from unwitting companies....would-be inventors still deluge the PTO with a growing number of applications — more than 400,000 received in 2006..."
"Stay tuned for the PTO’s announcement of the Peer to Patent Project/Community Patent Review, a pilot program in collaboration with the New York Law School’s Institute for Information Law & Policy, headed by Professor of Law Beth Noveck. The lead sponsors — General Electric, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft and Red Hat — will allow some of their patent applications to be reviewed by experts in the scientific community who, perhaps moreso than examiners, may be able to identify relevant prior art and thereby improve issued patents."
READ THE FULL ARTICLE: http://www.todaysengineer.org/2007/Mar/patenthood.asp
Comments