What is Digg?30 Comments
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12"Click here to digg this patent"
- theotheragentm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8I've just registered the Peer Review patent. I'm going to be a rich man!
- jayf, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Yes but will they have time to review our reviews?
- tonicboy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5"The waiting period that we currently have due to backlog is a built in buffer zone for the creator to keep working with the idea and get the credit they deserve."
You can't seriously be arguing that the current backlog is "built-in"?! There is absolutely nothing at all intentional about the backlog. The ideal patent process - as far as the Patent Office is concerned - would be to review and approve/reject patent applications immediately. The idea of a buffer zone where the inventor can refine his idea during the backlog time is silly because it implies that the patent process is meant to take applications that will change before they are accepted and are therefore premature patents. - kwoff, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4The patent system definitely needs work, and introducing ideas
similar to the open-source philosophy sounds quite positive to me. - ModernGeek, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5It sounds like the government trying to embrace the ways of open source. The fact of the matter is, if this trend continues to catch on, we will see corporations attempting to recruit volunteers to help stock their shelves in retail stores. Think about it for a while, and you'll see that it isn't too far fetched.
- tonicboy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Well, the article is very lean on details, but I would doubt that they would give peer reviewers the power to reject a patent. It sounds more like they are looking for people to conduct due diligence on patents. Today, the USPTO is so understaffed and overworked, they simply don't have the time to study a patent fully and determine if it is valid or not. The Peer Review would simply give them free research which they can then use to help them make better decisions.
- lennyman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Wow, that turned into America bashing rather quickly. I think maybe there a few things to consider. The USPTO takes in patent applications from around the globe because most countries do not have their own patent office. Second, the US government is in the process of doubling the size of the PTO in the next few years to help reduce the backlog. Third the USPTO ACTUALLY MAKES MONEY! The cost of filing patents allows the PTO to turn a profit, which is thrown back in the US treasury. Anyways, I digress.
The idea of having a public review is particularly suited to the patent process. The process of researching the validity of a patent can be difficult if you cannot find any examples. Examiners would benefit from the general knowledge of the public if they could be pointed in the right direction for research. - kwoff, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Sorry ywong137, I accidentally 'thumbs downed' your comment, though I meant to digg it. :/
Your comment was very insightful. Now the only thing patents are missing is an AJAX interface. :) - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3i think this has no teeth.
what happens when peer review rejects some bogus patent and the submitter simply apeals it. - tonicboy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I think this is brilliant. Since one of the biggest problems in the Patent Office is that all the best talent for vetting applications is in the private sector, why not let the private sector participate in the patent process? This is basically the patent version of open source. Sure, there will be some problems, but I think that the more eyeballs there will be on the process, the better.
- SouthernDigger, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2This is sketch because a lot of the time, a company or person has to submit many different patents to cover all the bases of the technology or whatever they are patenting. If the public gets a glimpse of these pending patents then there is a possibility that they would be able to extrapolate another technology or process that is similar but better in a way that the original creator did not see. The waiting period that we currently have due to backlog is a built in buffer zone for the creator to keep working with the idea and get the credit they deserve.
On the other hand... with pending patents available for public testing, technology would sure hurry along even quicker now wouldn't it? I am all for that :) - SL33PY, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I'm just happy to see that the patent office acknowledges the fact that their system has flaws, and that they are trying to work things out
- foobario, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@ModernGeek: the future is now. Actually, it is about 5 years ago.
My employer laid off hundreds of engineers then, around when all the other tech companies did the same. There were engineers stocking shelves at the grocery store for minimum wage. Some bright spark at my employer got the idea that this wasn't good: someday the market would pick up, and there would be all these people with big holes in their resumés. So they started a program to nominally 'help out' those engineers: they offered unpaid internships, doing the same job they laid you off from... the only benefit to the engineer was that their resumé stayed clean. Many engineers took them up on it.
I expect we'll see more 'innovative' practices coming from the corporate world in the future. - generalmx, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3The subject was Peer Review, not the flaws in the Patenting system, which are well known in the digg community already. The article you linked to is from July, 2005. It also doesn't display correctly in Firefox on 1920x1200. And your title is a little biased.
- tonicboy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It's amazing to me that an article about something that could have a profound effect on our economy and business practice only gets 30 comments, but an article on the new Sony PS3 controller gets almost 500 comments.
- veloscaper, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2This is already done in the UK and EU patent systems.
- DocDEB, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Just out source it to India, China, < add name of up and comming "third world" country here >. We don't have to do the work when there are plenty of others in the world willing to do it.
- wthulhu, on 08/29/2009, -0/+1This would definitley lend itself certain abuses, and thwere are quite a few details to work out. But overall I think this would be a good thing.
- SouthernDigger, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@ tonicboy-
I'm not saying that it is a purposeful buffer but more of a default buffer that just exists. The current system makes it hard for the public to get their hands on the ideas they want without having to sift through every approved patent. Putting the patents into the hands of the public before approval just lends itself to more idea thefts is all i am saying. - VeganG, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This isn't an econony news site.
- marnaq, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2New expression proposal: Patent Spam.
- adml_shake, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2"So the USA does not have enough money to educate its children, tend to its ill or properly investigate protection of rights, but it has enough money to go to war? And I thought you guys were known for pragmatism!"
You need some education my friend, a VERY large chunck of our money goes towards giving $$ aid to poor countries around the world. If we stopped doing that for a few years, we'd have enough moeny to have this war paid off in just a few years. - drakethegreat, on 10/12/2007, -9/+10Laws aren't decided by people in America, they are decided by corporations. I can't be blamed for this situation since it was the generations before mine that ***** everything up.
- ramiro, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Nobody really cares that you have a big monitor. Being from 2005 and "displaying incorrectly in 1920x1200" is irrelevant.
- BrainedChild, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I like this. In our slowly-descending-into-orwellian-society this at least makes me feel like I'm getting some more say in our government.
- reedreeder, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2of course. whats a good discussion about anything these days without cutting down bush at least once or twice. if you hate this country so much, then leave for God's sake.
- theone3, on 10/12/2007, -12/+9So the USA does not have enough money to educate its children, tend to its ill or properly investigate protection of rights, but it has enough money to go to war? And I thought you guys were known for pragmatism!
- ramiro, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1A better article about this subject has been submitted
http://digg.com/technology/Patent_laws_allow_absurd_and_frivolous_inventions_
but didn't make the front page for what reason? TLADDR - Too long and diggers don't read, perhaps.
One more reason to not put much faith in the digg public as a collective. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -10/+1Well, you know, it's important that Iraqis have health care and intellectual property rights.
The US is like parents who endure privation so they can afford to send their kids to college. American inner cities are crumbling and few of our citizens can afford health care, but we're doing it so the rest of the world can live in freedom.! One day when you're old enough you'll appreciate our sacrifice!
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