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- From: "Edward C. Zimmermann" <edz@bsn.com>
- To: ebohlman@netcom.com
- Date: Tue, 25 Jan 100 13:50:48 +0100 (MET)
> The problem is that lately, the USPTO seems to be awarding patents that
> cover *all* possible means of achieving a particular outcome rather than
> specific implementations. Merely thinking up a desirable result doesn't
> provide much to build on. As someone once put it, it's like getting a
> patent on the broad concept of mechanically trapping mice rather than on
> the design of a particular mousetrap.
>
The key to understanding the current situation is the observation that one
can patent nearly anything if it meets certain formal requirements (which
for the USPTO is increasingly too a free-for-all to include not just algorithms,
natural laws, natural life forms but such things as business models). The patent
offices--- and this is not restricted to the USPTO--- have elected given "a
complexity of the material" to "...let the courts decide". In many ways the USPTO
have just taken the logical step to declare itself ill-suited to judge the
difference between a business plan, a machine or an animal. Given the (potentially
quite high) costs of a patent suit this has effectively flip-floped the original
motivations of patents.
--
______________________
<A HREF="whois://rs.internic.net/ecz">Edward C. Zimmermann</A>
<A HREF="http://www.bsn.com/">Basis Systeme netzwerk/Munich</A>
Cellular: +49 (179) 205-0539
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