This is a long-needed change! It is now legal for third parties to submit information to the patent office to help them to evaluate patent applications at the click of a mouse. This means you can submit prior art references, or argue that the patent is actually a no-brainer (in hope that the applicant does not receive the patent). I only hope the patent office is smart enough to read the comments, and stop idiotic patents from being issued in the first place.
/via +John Hardy
Open Season on Patents Starts Thursday, Thanks to Crowdsourced Platform | Threat Level | Wired.com
Thanks to a change in U.S. patent law, citizens can now help challenge patents before they are issued — and a collaboration between the Patent Office, Stack Exchange and Google hope to turn the power…
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So, if I had filed about the multi-touch screens I got involved in back in the 80's, Apple would not have been granted that silly multi-touch patent in the first place? I wonder. I suspect money, enough money at least, still talks. Facts seem to have little influence over patents and patent disputes, only the size of your lawyer army. Anything but mega corporation counterparts stand no chance.
Good hunting though!
And how! Someone get on telling my supervisor that!
+Christopher Cooke hahaha I think you need a vacation! or a beer? or both!
Now I see 'parents'.
Couple that with the link +mary Zeman posted this morning titled The Case for Abolishing Patents, which I read as "The case for Abolishing Patients ", and it's starting to look like a very grim end to the week.
Was I the only one who read 'parents'? 🙂