Re: [Patents] re: UK software company kicked out of US

[PILCH Hartmut <phm@a2e.de>]

> Once again, Hartmut relies on lies to make a point:
> >Greg seems to be recommending that Europe must follow the US lead in
> >lowering "patent quality".  Since you need to have low quality patents
> >in US, JP, CN, etc., it is best to have them at home also.
> 
> Nice lie.  I have never recommended that anyone seek or rely on low
> quality patents, and have argued for years for patent offices to 

Then why did you erase the text piece from this discussion thread in
which you at least implicitely recommended this?

> improve the quality of issued patents (which would lead to far less
> software patents issuing, amongst other things).

You recommended that european domestic patent systems should help
people collect arms for fights that need to be fought abroad, in
particular in the US.  Since in the US a lot of fights are fought
using "low quality" patents, it follows that european patent offices
should also arm their companies with low quality patents.
 
> My recommendation is that if European companies wish to compete in the
> US markets, they are going to have to adopt some of the patenting
> strategies of the US. 

including the acquisition of tons of "low-quality patents".

> Otherwise, you are going to be in a worse position
> than the UK company.  For European companies, that means acquiring
> software and business method patents in the US. 
> You may decry their existence or their quality, but they do exist,
> then you will need to acquire some of your own.

Nobody disagrees on that.

> Given that it is easier to file foreign patents (for example,
> through the PCT system) if you already have patents filed in your
> home country (where you can do much of the initial patent filing
> using your local lawyers and in your local language), if European
> companies are going to need software and business method patents to
> compete in the US, it seems to be in their best interests to be able
> to file their initial patent applications at home.  The reasons are
> purely due to minimizing costs.

And that again is an argument for granting patents at the lowes possible
quality level -- US level or lower.  

Of course it is a very weak argument.  But it is nice to see Greg
Aharonian campaigning for worldwide standardisation on the lowest
level of patent quality.

-- 
Hartmut Pilch, FFII & Eurolinux Alliance              tel. +49-89-12789608   
Protecting Innovation against Patent Inflation       http://swpat.ffii.org/
130,000 signatures against software patents      http://www.noepatents.org/