EU Patent Staff Go On Strike 116
h4rm0ny writes "Last Friday, staff at the European Patent Office went on strike. They protested outside for several hours and issued a statement claiming that 'the organisation is decentralising and focusing on granting as many patents as possible to gain financially from fees generated.' They also declared this as being disastrous for innovation and that their campaign was not for better wages, but for better quality patents.
Meanwhile, an article on it discusses the US's own approach to dealing with the increasing flood of patent applications: a community patent project to help identify prior art. It might sound like a grass-roots scheme, and maybe it is, but those roots include such patent behemoths as IBM. So it looks like on both sides of the Atlantic, some signs of sanity might be emerging in the patent world from those people right in the thick of it." Note, this was a half-day strike, not ongoing.
Re:Finally - Common Sense! (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Finally! (Score:4, Interesting)
Conversely, if this DOES lead to some fixes, and then patents have to be really innovative and the system works as planned you can bet your ass the big dogs will push hard to go RIGHT back to the previous practice of patenting everything under the sun after a few small guys stick a big enough thorn in their side. Small guy comes up with something truely innovative, patents it, and now the big dogs are on his leash if they want to use it... Yeah...that will last long...we already saw it collapse once.
Of course patent beheamoths are behind it (Score:4, Interesting)
It might sound like a grass-roots scheme, and maybe it is, but those roots include such patent behemoths as IBM.
The patent system is quickly becoming a joke, and if that happens, IBM's patent portfolio is devalued. They also don't want to have to fight frivolous patents, so it's win-win for them. Plus, they've already helped themselves to the patent banquet to the point of morbid obesity. It's easy to shout "no more caviar!" at the party when your plate and belly are full.
Everyone wants 'opportunity for all'...until they've had theirs. Immigration and import policies the world over are also a great example of this.
Re:Finally - Common Sense! (Score:3, Interesting)
Actually these are bureaucrats refusing to do their master's bidding ... guess what their chances are ... I worked at the EU. The organisation isn't even democratic (the real power is in the hands of an unelected body, the european comission).
Any demands for accountability of the leaders will be shot down faster than it would have been in Iran, or on the Tiananmen square. The EU is all about how it looks. About the wages of the "fonctionnaires" (this is a word that will join a dictionary in 2050 with references to "fuhrer", "KGB", "SS" and "comissar"). It is european after all. Not about substance.
Complaining about substance will get you sued faster than saying "real prophets don't rape 6-year old girls" will get you killed in Iran, however true the claims may be.
Re:Patents were always a money making scam (Score:4, Interesting)
Eli Whitney invented the Cotton Gin but since patent laws were weak at the time he actually made very little money off of an innovation that revolutionized the textile industry by making cotton much cheaper to produce and much more widely used in manufacturing as a result. Even with the weak patent system at the time, we was eventually able to enforce his patent and get some money from those that were producing rip Cotton Gin's without license.
I agree that the patent system is currently doing more harm than good in many cases, but that doesn't mean it does no good. I think the major points that need to be revised are a shortening of the protection period, Automatic rejection of patents that are vague, a reasonable limit on the amount of time between opening of the patent application and finishing the submission, and a return to previous situation where software and business methods could not be patented.
Re:Finally - Common Sense! (Score:4, Interesting)
Actually these are bureaucrats refusing to do their master's bidding ... guess what their chances are ... I worked at the EU. The organisation isn't even democratic (the real power is in the hands of an unelected body, the european comission).
The EU commission president is suggested by the heads of the governments of the member states (all democratically elected), and has to be approved by the European Parliament (democratically elected). The commission president then selects his commissioners, then the commission has to be approved again by the parliament. How is that not democratic?
I'm not saying it's perfect (few things in the EU as in many other institutions are), especially I think it's a shame that the EP can only reject the complete commission, not individual commissioners, bust seriously... not democratic? Are in your home country all ministers elected directly by the people - individually?
And saying that the commission is "the real power"... the commission can draft laws which they can suggest to the parliament and the council (which consists of the national governments). You make its sound like they run the EU alone...
Re:Patents were always a money making scam (Score:1, Interesting)
I can agree with your final paragraph but I didn't say that patents never did any good. The point I was aluding to was that, on the whole they don't. I said that patents were a legal tax on innovation and there's countless examples to support this (Bell, Wright bros, Watt), regardless of the other typically contentious issues involved. Whitney pretty much failed to enforce his patent, you say patent laws were weak back then yet it's still an immense undertaking for a sole inventor to take a wealthy and powerful corporate infringer to court.
Personally I think that patent duration should be tied to a business plan, a limited monopoly granted solely in order to recouperate the costs of development and secure investment. And since government issues the monopoly, government can enforce it; sparing us all participation in this huge Jarndyce and Jarndyce style farce.