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The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Gets It Right about Patents
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 20:00:58 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: "Glenn S. Tenney" <tenney () think org> Date: August 20, 2009 7:24:44 PM EDT To: David Farber <dave () farber net> Subject: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Gets It Right about Patents (for IP if you wish) The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel this past weekend published a two part series of in-depth well-researched articles on patents, the USPTO, and many of the problems involved -- including the impact of these patent problems on the US' financial recovery. Here's a good summary of those articles: http://www.patentdocs.org/2009/08/the-milwaukee-journal-sentinel-gets-it-right--about-patents--------published-articles-in--the-popul.html The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Gets It Right about Patents Published articles in the popular press rarely report accurately about patents and the patent system. That's why it is unexpected, remarkable, and incredibly timely that the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published not one but two in-depth articles about patents and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office this week. Written by John Schmid and Ben Poston, the articles, "Patent backlog clogs recovery" and "Patent rejections soar as pressure on agency rises" document the current (parlous) conditions for patenting in the U.S. Most importantly, the articles recognize the importance of innovation in pulling the country out of the current economic crisis. The authors cite statistics familiar to anyone involved in the patent system: that Congress spent almost two decades raiding Patent Office coffers to fund other programs, to the tune of $752 million during that time (accounting for about 7% of the Office's budget) and reducing its ability to hire new examiners. That while that trend ended in 2005, and the Office added 1,200 new examiners per year from 2006-2008, attrition is a serious problem, with one examiner leaving the Office for every two that are hired. And that the current budget crisis has frozen new hiring, exacerbating the problem of a 1.2 million application backlog facing the Office and an average pendency of 3.5 years. ...snip... And here are the two articles... Part one: http://www.jsonline.com/business/53319162.html Patent backlog clogs recoveryAgency's inability to keep pace undermines American innovation, competitiveness
By John Schmid and Ben Poston of the Journal Sentinel Posted: Aug. 15, 2009 On a campus of boxy office buildings nine miles outside Washington, D.C., some 6,300 patent examiners hold the nation's economic future in their hands. The next Google. The next iPhone. The next Viagra. All could be fueled by inventions awaiting the 20 years of protection afforded by a U.S. patent - if only the patent examiners could catch up. But they can't. The federal system of granting patents to businesses and entrepreneurs has become overwhelmed by the growing volume and complexity of the applications it receives, creating a massive backlog that by its own reckoning could take at least six years to get under control, the Journal Sentinel has found. ...snip... and part two: http://www.jsonline.com/business/53367952.html Patent rejections soar as pressure on agency risesPenalized for flawed approvals, examiners keep pace - and pay - by refusing applications
By John Schmid and Ben Poston of the Journal Sentinel Posted: Aug. 16, 2009 Issued in 1995, U.S. Patent No. 5,443,036 is titled "Method of Exercising a Cat." If you move the light from a laser pointer around on the floor, it says, your cat will chase it. That's right -- it's patented. Yet when medical professor Janet Mertz applied for a patent on a new diagnostic test for breast cancer in 2002, she waited five years for ruling a and was rejected. The hormone-based test, developed and refined for more than a dozen years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was deemed too obvious to merit patent protection. ...snip... -- Glenn Tenney CISSP CISM ------------------------------------------- Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
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