Reply to: Rogan Reshaping USPTO Under Deceptive Terms

[Seth Johnson <seth.johnson@RealMeasures.dyndns.org>]

(Reply from Law & Policy of Computer Communications list,
CYBERIA-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM)

-------- Original Message --------
Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2002 09:18:03 EDT
From: DJBJD97@AOL.COM


In a message dated 6/13/2002 6:35:08 AM Eastern Daylight
Time,
seth.johnson@REALMEASURES.DYNDNS.ORG writes:


> Rogan surely knows all this...Just another example of how
> unscrupulous the representatives of today's patent system are.
>

Rogan does not know anything about intellectual property,
and has said so in public. To vilify him is to give him too
much credit.  He is not a representitive of the patent
system, he is representitive of the Bush Whitehouse. 
However, he has surrounded himself with people who have
draconian, unevolved ideas about the current patent and
trademark systems with the intent to let them do as they
will at the USPTO.  He is merely a political appointee doing
the will of the Administration.  If he had been reelected in
California, Rogan would not have been on the IP map. He is
the undersecretary as a reward for taking a lead in the
impeachment proceedings against Clinton, which lost him his
election.

>>Although we can't expect any help from people like Rogan, the push for 
>>reform itself is a good sign...At least at the conference in Paris the 
>>rhetoric of the people from WIPO, OECD, Whitehouse and FTC sounded a lot 
>>more reasonable than that of Rogan found here<<

Rogan doesn't know enough to be helpful or accurate, even if
he were so inclined.

This is not reform, this is getting a cash cow to give more
milk.  The PTO is a big, fat non-taxdollar cash cow. When
you see the surplus funds that the re-organization is
supposed to create, remember that Congress siphons that
money off to other places (maybe to fund new Departments and
such).  When one assess the agendas here, one needs to go as
far back as the Reagan Administration. It is an ex-Reagan,
ex-WIPO guy that has created much of the havoc with the
blessing of the current Whitehouse.  To understand
Rogan's/Whitehouse's spin on patents, follow the money. 
It's frustrating to think that people assume that this
re-orgnization is a result of philosophical/political
conflict.  It's not even apples and oranges, it's IP people
talking about apples and Administration people saying they
are talking about apples, but actually talking about money. 
It's really about charging more for less, a trade of
protection of IP, to administration of IP. The
steamlining/relaxation that will occur for many substantive
issues will be by pushing those issues from the PTO to the
courts. Litigators will make out big under the "reform." Joe
Schmoe will not do as well. Be careful for what you wish
for, nothing is going to be free under this "reform," in any
sense of the word.

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