Re: [xml-dev] Another Microsoft XML patent

["M. David Peterson" <m.david.x2x2x@gmail.com>]

The United States Government is currently in a litigation law "bash,
slash, no more cash" sequence in which every fathonable way to stop
our legal infrastructure from suing ourselves to death is being
implemented.   The obvious problem is that too many dishonest people
have ruined it for the honest and legitimate cases where there are
very real victims of crime XYZ performed by Corporation PDQ who both
deserve and need the *realistic* settlement and/or fines put upon Corp
PDQ by the judicial system.

The good side: Too many to list but lower health care costs could be
the result of HMO's paying out less each year in litigation fees and
associated fines.  Of course the hope is that this list could go on
forever with the savings and therefore lower cost of
_fill_in_the_blank_

Of course as already eluded too, making it harder to sue Corporation
PDQ takes a lot of power away from the average citizen and puts the
posibility of abuse of the system back into the hands of Corporation
PDQ.  The real test of the Governments efforts will come when they
have showcased that they have taken the possibility of corporate abuse
into consideration and have found other ways to ensure the abuses
don't take place without assessing fines of such magnitude that it
greatly effects other areas of our economy.  Tricky situation for
sure...

Setting aside personal opinions regarding the litigation issues and
whether this is hurting more than helping...

Have we now reached a point in US Patent Law where the government
needs to step in and say "enough is enough!"?\

- or is there another way?

Its obvious that there are legitimate reasons for large coporations to
apply for patents they have no plan nor intention of implementing
legal control of on a global scale, instead simply putting into place
protection from those who make business out of patent law suits,
creating a billion dollar industry that has become Yet Another Nasty
Sore In The Side of US Corporate/Business Law.

Is this possible to fix? or should we all just plan to meet back here
each and every Sunday night and make a game of the latest laugh made
possible courtesy of the USPTO?

Actually, in reality the USPTO has to look at this from many different
angles, probably shaking their heads while delivering patents they
know are bogus when speaking strictly from an "Idea" and/or "Process
Driven" perspective realizing it would never hold up in court anyway,
hand them out to circumvent the flip side of the coin when little
business makes big business out of bogus law suits based on patents
purchased for the soul purpose of financial gain.

How can this be fixed???

On 6/6/05, Michael Kay <mike@saxonica.com> wrote:
> >  From what I recall, and from what I came up with in some quick
> > Googling, there are far, far more lawsuits by little companies (often
> > those whose only asset is some IP they have purchased) against the big
> > companies than actual examples of big companies using dodgy patents to
> > crush the competition.
> 
> It's certainly true at present that when a company starts exploiting its
> patents, you can be pretty sure it's failing to sell its products. It's
> true, but it's irrelevant.
> 
> Every company is going to hit hard times some day. The point is that you
> can't write a line of code any more without violating umpteen patents that
> should never have been granted, and that's making the software business
> unreasonably risky. If you don't believe that, try to find a UK insurer
> who's prepared to cover a small company selling software into the US market.
> (They exist, but they take some finding.)
> 
> Michael Kay
> http://www.saxonica.com/
> 
> 
> 


-- 
<M:D/>

M. David Peterson
http://www.xsltblog.com