Patent Trolls- FTC Plans Reform

[kosmo]

"The intellectual property system was designed to create incentives for people to innovate by giving them, for want of a better word, a monopoly on their ideas for a certain period of time," FTC commissioner Mozelle Thompson told BBC News Online.

"But we have seen instances where companies use that monopoly in an anti-competitive way, sometimes to prevent other products from getting to market, to prevent people from sharing ideas and to prevent the kind of innovation that the patent system is really trying to spur on."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3722509.stm

Might there be hope?

[Destructo6]

Glad to see them finally come to that realization.

[Thermus]

Nothing will come from it. Why is it on a British website?

[ProX9]

why will nothing come from it? I always wondered if the british ever reported about the usa, well now we know.

[azza]

I find this qoute off the website most appropiate,,,

"The ambiguity and lack of quality that we currently have really mainly favours those who want to use patents as a tool for harassment," he says.

Remind you of any company?

Cheers
Azza

[SlartyBartFast]

Why is it on a British website?

Because the BBC covers international news.

Great coverage and stories from around the world.

[Shykicker]

I'm not sure how a reform would help, unless they're looking to severely limit the "method of doing things" patents. Also, does this mean that they would or would have the man power to investigate currently issued patents and affirm or deny them retro-actively?

It looks like they just want to throw more people at the problem. I don't see how that makes their patent office research any more valid or effective. Especially given, for example, maybe only a handfull of patent office workers have any idea what is currently "public domain" in the sport of Paintball.

Say patent workers have 20-some hours on average today. So what if they have 48 hours tomorrow? It probably won't help.

Maybe a more severe penalty for patent fraud. Or possibly, a more effective, worthwhile, or lucrative counter-suit for victims of patent fraud. But I doubt it'll happen.

[alkafluence]

The BBC is actually a pretty decent way on getting International news.

However, I'd like to point out that the original poster of this thread got the notion to post this after reading this exact same thing on Slashdot.

[kosmo]

Ummmm, no I didnt.