Patently Oblivious

The USPTO has some problems. For some reason the tech sector sees that a lot more than other people. Maybe it’s because there are huge number of tech patents that are approved each year, and many of them are complete an utter crap. Through some changes in what the office allowed to be patented, the number of patent applications submitted has skyrocketed. The number of approved patents brings the office more money, decreasing the motivation to turn a lot of the patents down. Plus, the sheer number and technicality of the applications has overwhelmed the office’s staff. It’s hard to keep examination experts in fields where they could be earning lots more money elsewhere. This lack of technical staff and glut of applications has made for some bad choices in approvals. The problem is it’s expensive and time consuming to get a patent revoked. It’s much easier to stop the approval than reverse one.

Many people have been screaming for an overhaul of the patent system for years, but little was done. Well doggonit, it looks like some innovative thinking has been going on. Can you believe it? I saw over at DailyTech and then again at Ars Technica that the USPTO is looking at testing a possible solution. They have essentially melded scientific review, capitalism, and open source software into one system, “Peer to Patent.” Basically it’s a peer review system to rigorously check for prior art and nonobviousness. Like open source software the patent application is open for scrutiny and comment by others. This means more eyes examining makes finding problems more likely. Many of these eyes will be experts in the related fields that the USPTO can’t afford to keep on staff. Also rival businesses will have a chance to have their own experts examine patents to try to provide reasons for denial before bad patents get approved. It should hopefully cut back on litigation by killing weak patents early, and ensuring the strength of what does get approved.

This actually looks promising, and shows that some government offices are looking to improve themselves. The trial is set to start in January if everything goes well. I’m going to be watching this to see what happens.