USA: Patent Reform is not enough, software patents must be abolished

The US Senate Judiciary Committee’s bill on “patent reform” will not address the main patent problems of software developers.

The bill takes aim at a problem experienced by a small number of large companies, namely, the problem of patent trolls litigating in the hope of a pay-out at the end of a long legal process. Ironically, many of the large companies that will benefit from this bill are the cause of the real patent problems for software developers.

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USPTO weakens obviousness requirements

(Temporary note: For statements supporting this article’s title, see en.swpat.org/wiki/raising_standards…)

The below text is a notice from the USPTO about tests they’re removing in order to make it less difficult to pass the test for obviousness. Low obviousness standards (silly patents) is not the mains cause of problems, but it aggravates already-problematic domains such as software patents.

An official PDF version of the text is available on ipeg.eu.

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USPTO interim guidelines request for comment – as text

Below is the text from http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/pdf/2010-18424.pdf

To help ESP reply to this consultation, please contribute to this wiki page: USPTO 2010 consultation – deadline 27 sept.

Formatting of the below text is a work in progress (25 Aug 2010). This is the second of two related documents published on news.swpat.org; the other is USPTO’s 101 Method Eligibility Quick Reference Sheet – as text.

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USPTO’s 101 Method Eligibility Quick Reference Sheet – as text

The USPTO is seeking comment, until 27 Sep 2010, on how to interpret the Supreme Court’s Bilski decision.

To help ESP reply to this consultation, please contribute to this wiki page: USPTO 2010 consultation – deadline 27 sept.

Below is a text published (pages 3 and 4) by the USPTO when announcing this call for comment. This is the first of two related documents published on news.swpat.org; the other is USPTO interim guidelines request for comment – as text.

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