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Patent Office revokes third patent; (fwd)
From: David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>
Date: Fri, 9 Dec 1994 11:44:59 -0500
[ the following cointains the comment "half of all software patents reference NO non-patent prior art " so whats new, most of the software journal articles cite no prior art :-) seems the sign of a broken field. Dave Date: 9 Dec 1994 07:16:24 -0400 From: "Mike Ammann" <ammann () umich edu> Thought you would be interested in the revocation. May effect other areas such as software and biotechnology. Mike !120894 Patent Office revokes third patent; Last week the Patent and Trademark Office notified Agracetus that it had canceled two patents on genetically engineering cotton. Agracetus had been awarded two broad patents that left unchallenged would have allowed Agracetus to demand royalties on virtually any type of cotton with gene modifications along the lines of what is in Agracetus' claims. However many in the industry, including scientists at the Department of Agriculture, argued that many other scientists contributed important innovations to genetically modifying cotton seeds (as well as other plants for which broad patents have been issued such as soy beans). These gene modifications usually are for increasing the plant's resistance to disease and pests. The re-examination was ordered by the Patent Office in April, and the rejection of the claims is not final. All of the claims were rejected on prior art grounds. Agracetus can first appeal to the Patent Office, and if unsuccessful, to the Federal courts. If ultimately unsuccessful, the value of Agracetus is expected to greatly decrease. The revocation once again raises the question of how well the Patent Office can deal with prior art/novelty issues in rapidly evolving domains (such as biotechnology) and/or in multitudinous domains (such as software, with millions of programmers). At some point, the Patent Office is going to have to seriously examine the reasons behind the miniscule number of non-patent prior art references that are cited in issued patents. When half of all software patents reference NO non-patent prior art (and not to pick on software because other technologies are equally poorly cited), when there are ample Dialog-referenceable/examiner-accessible prior art references, one wonders whether or not the workflow process of prosecuting patent applications has to be reengineered, as opposed to playing musical administrative chairs. Internet Patent News Service (for subscription info, send 'help' to patents () world std com ) (for prior art search services info, send 'prior' to patents () world std com ) (for WWW patent searching, try http://sunsite.unc.edu/patents/intropat.html ) ------------------ Enclosed/Nested Letter Follows ------------------ !120894 Patent Office revokes third patent; Mexico joins PCT Last week the Patent and Trademark Office notified Agracetus that it had canceled two patents on genetically engineering cotton. Agracetus had been awarded two broad patents that left unchallenged would have allowed Agracetus to demand royalties on virtually any type of cotton with gene modifications along the lines of what is in Agracetus' claims. However many in the industry, including scientists at the Department of Agriculture, argued that many other scientists contributed important innovations to genetically modifying cotton seeds (as well as other plants for which broad patents have been issued such as soy beans). These gene modifications usually are for increasing the plant's resistance to disease and pests. The re-examination was ordered by the Patent Office in April, and the rejection of the claims is not final. All of the claims were rejected on prior art grounds. Agracetus can first appeal to the Patent Office, and if unsuccessful, to the Federal courts. If ultimately unsuccessful, the value of Agracetus is expected to greatly decrease. The revocation once again raises the question of how well the Patent Office can deal with prior art/novelty issues in rapidly evolving domains (such as biotechnology) and/or in multitudinous domains (such as software, with millions of programmers). At some point, the Patent Office is going to have to seriously examine the reasons behind the miniscule number of non-patent prior art references that are cited in issued patents. When half of all software patents reference NO non-patent prior art (and not to pick on software because other technologies are equally poorly cited), when there are ample Dialog-referenceable/examiner-accessible prior art references, one wonders whether or not the workflow process of prosecuting patent applications has to be reengineered, as opposed to playing musical administrative chairs. ==================== The United States Patent and Trademark Office received notification from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) that Mexico deposited its instrument of accession to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) on October 1, 1994. Mexico will become the 74th Contracting State of the PCT on January 1, 1995. Consequently, nationals and residents of Mexico are entitled to file international applications under the PCT on and after January 1, 1995, and from the same date it is possible to file international applications designating and electing Mexico (country code: MX). ==================== Greg Aharonian Internet Patent News Service (for subscription info, send 'help' to patents () world std com ) (for prior art search services info, send 'prior' to patents () world std com ) (for WWW patent searching, try http://sunsite.unc.edu/patents/intropat.html ) ------------------ End of Enclosed/Nested Letter ------------------ Michael S. Ammann email: ammmann () umich edu Director Economic Development phone: 313-747-0037 & Commericalization fax: 313-747-0036 Office of Technology Transfer College of Engineering University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2016 Organizational Home Page URL: http://www.engin.umich.edu/~stuit/otthome.htmlome.html -- Rollie Cole rjc () iti org
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