The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Gets It Right about Patents

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

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 recovery
Agency'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 rises
Penalized 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