Thursday, October 31, 2013
Patently Broken
The current state of the US patent system is partially, if not completely, broken when it comes to software. The USPTO issues thousands of patents covering computers, software, and other related technologies each year. Patent claims are often so broad that they overlap with numerous previous patents. In an edition of the podcast This American Life an analysis of one particular patent yielded over five thousand patents issued around the same time or earlier that covered pretty much the exact same thing. Patents are supposed to be novel. They are supposed to promote the progress of science and the useful arts. With the USPTO issuing so many patents that cover the same thing, it's obvious that the process, at least for software, is broken. We need software patent reform. Congress should follow the trail blazed earlier this year by New Zealand, and abolish software patents.
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I agree, the patent system needs fixed. It is a less than useless mess the way it currently stands.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if the best way to fix everything is to abolish software patents completely though, but change is required.
ReplyDeleteOne of the biggest problems in the patent system is people who simply don't understand technology. Being able to cut through buzzwords and deliberately misleading technical cruft should be a core competency of the patent office.
ReplyDeleteI strongly agree, design and UI patents should be abolished.
ReplyDeleteAlgorithms, encyrption schemes, and processes should be patentable, but these should gaurded against pattent trolls
I think a way to fix the problem is to have a requirement of programming knowledge from those who approve patents.
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