USPTO Considers 'Secrecy Order' for Significant Patents

[Guest]

The U.S. patent and Trademark Office has issued a public notice in which it initiates the discussion whether certain publications should be treated as a "secret" and not be published.

USPTO Considers 'Secrecy Order' for Significant Patents : Read more

 

[sabot00]

Great, so now Apple will sew me for patents I didn't know they had.

 

[keyanf]

Either you can't claim infringement (which removes the point of a patent), or you can (which removes the point of a patent being public and likely unconstitutional somewhere because it is flat out impossible to tell an act is illegal before doing it).

Either way this sounds horrible.

 

[Guest]

So I can be sued by the government for patent infringement without knowing the details of the patient I'm infringing on?!?

BRILLIANT!!!

USA, Land of the poor, home of the couch potatoes. ;P

 

[dimar]

How about making any patent valid for the first fives years after registration, and then let it become free/public. This will give the original person/company a head start, to make as much cash as possible. After five years, competition will be introduced to advance that patented technology to new levels by anybody. If the original company decides to abandon that tech, others will build on it. Or if the original company becomes lazy, others will improve it. I think this will advance things a lot.

 

[dimar]

...When that patent expires (after 5 years, for example), whoever continues the work, should credit the original creators. But nobody should be able to sue anyone, or pay any fees, as long as the right people's names are credited, as the original creators + those who worked on improving it.

 

[hokkdawg]

[citation][nom]dimar[/nom]...When that patent expires (after 5 years, for example), whoever continues the work, should credit the original creators. But nobody should be able to sue anyone, or pay any fees, as long as the right people's names are credited, as the original creators + those who worked on improving it.[/citation]

This is how patents already work - they expire after 24 years. In the tech world, this is a lifetime. In other worlds, like pharmaceuticals, this is short. It takes upwards of 5-10 years for a drug to get discovered, just as long to get it through human trials, and by then there is only like 4-6 years of actual useful patent defense for the company to recover it's money and make profit.

The business of technology has changed greatly in the last 30 years, but the patent laws need to catch up. Perhaps grant varying patent lengths for different industries? Some kind of innovation in the patent law is needed, because we can all agree the absurdities of patent trolls buying technology simply to take money from other people.

 

[fazers_on_stun]

^ No, patents are usually enforceable for 20 years from the date of filing. If due to some delays in the Patent Office, the term can be extended for each day of the delay.

Also, patent owners have to pay maintenance fees several times during the lifetime of the patent, or else they expire and anyone is then free to make & use the claimed invention.

 

[wild9]

If this is about protecting American interests.. good luck with Obama's administration. This is the administration that is continually forging plans for a cross-regional 'trade' agreement with other countries.. they are hell-bent on destroying barriers rather than protecting them for the benefit of the electorate. Look up North American Union on Google. Bit by bit, under the veil of stealth and propaganda, some might say that this administration has successfully patented the destruction of a nation and its constitutional rights. All they need to do is package it the right way including labeling it as something else so that they can, by law, keep it under lock and key. Hell, look at all the tax dollars that get traded in certain ways, and wasted in certain ways.. they answer to nobody.

 

[Blessedman]

One central patent office for the world. Period!

 

[dreadlokz]

"detrimental to the nation's economic security" my ass! It will make money for a few and fk with everyone else!!! Only way to do it right is end the patent system and set the ppl free =D

 

[hfeshadow]

Or here's a brilliant idea, instead of considering this new plan how about making the patent process take a couple days versus 5 freaking years. Hire more people? Use a business model that works? Just saying....

 

[Christopher1]

[citation][nom]keyanf[/nom]Either you can't claim infringement (which removes the point of a patent), or you can (which removes the point of a patent being public and likely unconstitutional somewhere because it is flat out impossible to tell an act is illegal before doing it).Either way this sounds horrible.[/citation]

Hit the nail on the head in one. That is exactly what I was thinking about while reading this article, the whole "How the hell am I supposed to know if I am infringing on a patent if it is secret?" argument.

It's getting to the point where I think that patents need to disappear. Patents on complete products (even if you only make one tester copy) okay, but none of these piecemeal patents.