Re: [Patents] pooling patents for progress and protection

[Gregory Aharonian <srctran@world.std.com>]

>I don't know the correct way for fighting software patents.

Easy solution - help patent offices give more time and prior art resources
to their examiners so that the patent examiners can issue far fewer but a
much higher quality software patent.  I have long argued that over 60% of
thes issued software patents are invalid.  Most examiners are smart enough
to argue so against patent applicants, if the examiners were given more time
and money and resources to do their jobs.  And most of the software
patents everyone whines about are in this 60% of invalid patents.

ANd much can be said about hardware patents, optics patents,and patents in
many other areas of technology - patent offices issue to many invalid and
overly broad patents.  Yet one more feature software shares with other
areas of technology, and one more reason software should be as patentable
as any other technology.

With regards to the patent pool idea, in Europe it won't have any impact.
Europe already has a powerful deterent to patent abuse - that losers pay
in patent litigation.  This stops many bad patents, software and non-software
from being asserted in Europe. As a practical business matter (and I
realize few of you here know much about running real businesses), you
shouldn't worry about having software patents and business patents in
Europe.  But if you hear that politicans plan to change the "loser pays"
aspect of patent litigation, then worry very very much.

Heck, if you actually want to do something useful (I am doubtful), you
ask each of the 100,000 people who signed the anti-software patent
petition to donate one book on software to either the EPO or PTO.
Having access to 100,000 such books would provide the examiners with
ample amoutns of prior art to deny many software patent applications.

Greg Aharonian