UK Launches 'Peer To Patent' Pilot Project 78
An anonymous reader writes "Inspired by a proposal by Beth Noveck, professor of law at New York Law School, the Minister for Intellectual Property, Baroness Wilcox, launched a UK 'Peer To Patent' pilot project to identify prior art in patent applications by harnessing the wider community of experts and engaged citizens." We could use something like that, too. Perhaps Noveck could get together with Carl Malamud to hash out a system that encourages participation.
It already exists in the US (Score:5, Informative)
US version: http://peertopatent.org/ [peertopatent.org]
The problem is that this approach is the world upside down. The correct approach would be that the polluter pays: make patent applicants put a certain amount of money into escrow (more and more general claims = larger amount of money), and if prior art is found then this money goes to the person/institution that dug it up (either the patent office or a third party).
This way you compensate people for spending their time on rooting out bad patents/claims, rather than more or less forcing them to do it for free because otherwise they may be badly affected by the granted patents.
Re:Minister? (Score:4, Informative)
They have a Minister of Intellectual Property? Does he work in the same building as the Ministry of Silly Walks?
Wait, this is for real?
Here's the list [cabinetoffice.gov.uk] of ministers.
But if you find the words amusing I think you'll have more fun with "Assistant Government Whip", or "Lords Chief Whip". This is what happens when you're country has had a parliament for approaching 800 years. You have a Secretary of the Treasury, we have a Chancellor of the Exchequer :-)
Re:Great (Score:5, Informative)
'Surely this is a tacit admission that the patent office is not capable of doing it's job?'
Maybe because some of these patents are written in such impenetrable English that they might as well have come from a Cylon base ship hybrid:
http://peertopatent.org.uk/patent/2458182/claim/0003/show [peertopatent.org.uk]
'...wherein prior to initiating encryption of said data said further processing device initiates generation of a secure signature from said data and initiates encryption of said secure signature and storing of said secure signature along with said secure data; and in response to receipt of said signal to resume said task said further processing device initiates retrieval of said encrypted secure signature and decryption of said encrypted secure signature and following decryption of said encrypted secure data initiates generation of said secure signature from said decrypted encrypted data and S comparison of said generated secure signature with said decrypted secure signature; and in response to said generated secure signature not matching said decrypted secure signature said further processing device issues an signal to said data processor to indicate that said data has been tampered with; and in response to said generated secure signature matching said decrypted secure signature said further processing device resumes said task using said decrypted data; mists of dreams drip along the nascent echo and love no more. End of line.'