Quote:
Originally Posted by Kali Yuga
And since patent law is unlikely to up and die any time soon, it seems to me the primary issues are 1) lack of funds for the patent office to thoroughly and properly check patents prior to awarding them,
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Just a minor nit and pick. Patent law and ridiculous patents are somewhat of a hobby of mine. As such I have to say this is a rather bogus excuse in this day and age. Granted, not every answer can be found online but a quick tutorial on how to use google and archive.org could save millions of dollars wasted in lawsuits every year. Case in point, the recent ruling by the patent office against Nestle. (
http://www.wysong.net/wysong-vs-purina.php ). In short Wysong was making money selling bacteria augmented Animal/People food. Nestle then years later sees this segment growing and patents it but never actually makes the product. Then sues Wysong for licensing.
Granted in 1999 the USPTO may have had to use AltaVista instead of Google, but they still likely could have likely found something as this page from archive.org shows
http://web.archive.org/web/199812061...ww.wysong.net/
Too often we say oh, that's just too hard and give people an out. Its time to start making them do the job they are paid for.