White House Takes Steps Against Patent Trolls 97
itwbennett writes "The Obama administration on Thursday launched a website with information to assist people and businesses targeted in patent lawsuits or receiving patent demand letters. The White House also announced that it would launch a new crowdsourcing initiative focused on identifying prior art (evidence of existing inventions) that the USPTO can use to reject bad patent claims and will expand a USPTO patent examiner technical training program by allowing outside technologists to help with the training."
A new crowdsourcing initiative to find prior art! (Score:5, Informative)
Re:A new crowdsourcing initiative to find prior ar (Score:4, Informative)
Ask Patents was created at the behest of the USPTO. Presumably they get some financial support in exchange but the USPTO is self-funded so no slush fund adventures are needed.
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There are other such sites as well...
http://www.crowdsourcing.org/n... [crowdsourcing.org]
http://www.patexia.com/contest... [patexia.com]
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A vote for M.Mouse, Bozo T. Clown (who incidentally got the most votes of all in the 70s/80s) J.R.Bob Dobbs and others is a vote your conscience will give you a beer for later.
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It's not just right wing trolls. Moms, Dads, the Postman, the old lady down the block, everyone hates the Democrats. Don't feel bad though, they hate the Republicans and don't trust the Libertarians and righteously so.
Where the hell do you live, that your family and neighbors are all so keenly aware? Everywhere I've been, you have one big group of drooling idiots who treat their party like a friggin' sports team and never put any thought beyond what some PR drone tells them to think. I want to live where you live.
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Oh, just get in your car and drive where houses are only one or two stories and don't look alike. The rest are just Hollywood sets for Movies and Nightly News programs.
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Yeah but together they've driven us to the brink of shit over the last century. Who did what is kinda irrelevant, because what one doesn't the other will given a far too short amount of time . So therefore their assumptions about foreign policy, economy, Nat'l debt mean shit as well. Everyone who isn't focusing on their shoelaces and can see past the horseshit fed us,is waiting for the levy to break.So what can I say kind about either? Not a fucking thing. Maybe I hope they get leprous syphilitic sores on t
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Nope. Maybe you should take a look before opening your yap?
Re:A new crowdsourcing initiative to find prior ar (Score:5, Informative)
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Nope. Maybe you should take a look before opening your yap?
Kindly put down your ideological/political biases for a moment... as sibling mentioned, the site is a perfect analog for what Obama is proposing.
From what I see, I find it strange that the President would have his staff put out a website, instead of, you know, trying to talk to the Senate about putting something forward to rectify the patent mess. After all, his party does dominate the Senate side of Congress, and I bet it wouldn't be that hard to get folks from among the opposition to join in. What, you as
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I see your point, but I gotta agree with others, given the success of the Healthcare website or the pockmark of the petition website, I don't hold out much hope for a government organized anything. The man has been in office 5+ years, if he is successful in this, it will only be the second thing he has EVER done that makes a desireable difference for the people. Getting off the ridiculous Marijuana mantra would be the first. At least we can start keeping dangerous offenders IN prison instead of putting them
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hold, hold my breath...
Re:A new crowdsourcing initiative to find prior ar (Score:4, Informative)
Of course the USPTO is aware of this as mentioned in their 2012 press release [uspto.gov]...
Here's an excerpt from the WH press release...
Today, the USPTO is announcing that it is exploring a series of measures to make it easier for the public to provide information about relevant prior art in patent applications, including by refining its third-party submission program, exploring other ways for the public to submit prior art to the agency, and updating its guidance and training to empower examiners to more effectively use crowd-sourced prior art.
The mere collection of this information, although important, is not what is being addressed here. The USPTO has a complex procedure in place to insert 3rd party information into a patent file for consideration by the examiner. Basically you can only submit other patents or papers (no explanations, analysis, comments, instructions, protest or wild-ass-diatribes allowed). There is also a time window, specific forms and a submission fee and a requirement that the submission be directed at a specific pending patent and limited to 10 items.
Of course the examiner is somewhat free to consider third party resources (like AskPatents), but they are often leery of doing so as third-party participation in the examining process is strictly regulated by statute. AFAIK, this is because examiners aren't supposed to consider pre-publication protests or other opposition in determining the validity of a patent application, only technical information, not opinions of others (like competitor companies or people with axes to grind).
Hopefully, this initiative will streamline the process of getting them relevant technical information w/o the inevitable chaff that tends to go along with crowdsourcing sites. Just because a document gets uploaded to a crowdsourcing site doesn't mean it's a legitimate document. Some people have an agenda, ya know...
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S he does good things, and the you bitch?
And then you wrap it up with what is clearly a lack of understanding about the trade agreements.
It's not him, it's you. You are stupid, and you are just looking fore excuses.
The fact that nearly every thing people complain about him is false tells me he must be doing something right.
Re:Chickens...roost (Score:4, Insightful)
He does good things, and the you bitch?
Obama could buy everyone in America free donuts and this site would find a way to complain about it.
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Isn't the first lady's big thing getting sweets banned?
No. That would be the Rush Limbaugh version of what she's been doing. In reality, she promotes exercise for kids.
Was kidding, but no. "Actionable federal govt food (Score:3)
I was joking obviously, but no, that's simply incorrect. She outlines her agenda in a document about 20 pages long entitled "summary of recommendations". You'll notice the word "food" appears four times as often as the word "exercise". In fact, she mentions "screen time" as often as she mentions exercise.
Her agenda items include "the federal government should pursue actionable items [to create] food boards ... set food policy". Whether you agree with her or not, her stated mission is to have the federal
Re:Was kidding, but no. "Actionable federal govt f (Score:5, Informative)
"the federal government should pursue actionable items [to create] food boards ... set food policy"
That means things like "Public schools shouldn't serve pizza and french fries every day". Mine did. It does not mean "Pizza should be banned from existence".
that, and FCC control of food advertising, etc (Score:2)
School lunches are a big part, yes. Also her proposals include things like having the FCC limit advertising of foods that the government considers to be suboptimal choices. There's a lot of food related stuff, more food related than exercise related.
Personally , I think the local school should serve healthy food. I'm glad that decades ago the FDA started putting out guidance, suggestions, that assist local school districts with healthy menu planning. I don't see any need for local citizens to pay $10,000
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. I don't see any need for local citizens to pay $10,000 in taxes to Washington, who takes their cut before sending $7,000 to the state, who takes their cut before sending $5,000 back to the local area.
You have no idea what you're talking about. Texas get $57B more in federal spending than it sends to Washington in taxes. Your lavish lifestyles are being subsidized by New York, California, and Massachusetts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_taxation_and_spending_by_state
willful blindness makes it hard to see, huh? (Score:2)
> You have no idea what you're talking about.
Then you're trying so hard to defend stupid that you've made yourself dense.
According to your link, US citizens send $2.9 trillion to Washington, who sends $500 billion to states, who send $100 billion back to the same localities it came from.
If that seems like a good idea to you, I've got something you'll love. I'm sure you'll get excited about this. You send me$1,000 and I'll send $250 of it to my wife, who will send $100 to you! Yay, you get $100! I'll p
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Are you looking at the right page?
The Federal government collects $2.5T in taxes and spends $2.9T.
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That being said, you don't remember Michelle Obama trying to make sure kids aren't fattying up with cookies, potato chips and french fries at lunch?
And fruck you for not saying "Gee -- yeah she did that because kids should eat a healthy lunch" --- instead you puss out and deny it -- instead of doing the right thing and defend it.
Weak.
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Michelle Obama trying to make sure kids aren't fattying up with cookies, potato chips and french fries at lunch?
The lunch served at public schools with federal money. You think that's equivalent to "getting sweets banned"?
Re:Chickens...roost (Score:5, Funny)
Yes it would be a diabolical communistic liberal plot to give every god fearing red blooded American diabetes to make them dependent on the government and make government larger.
That's all Obama ever does, that is make government bigger. Obama is responsible for the massive increase in Federal spending, even under the Bush years. He's especially responsible for the financial meltdown started during the second Bush term that was triggered by financial deregulation passed by a veto proof margin of a completely republican controlled congress during the Clinton years.And he's liberal, and we all know Liberal is bad bad bad. And he's so liberal he's just one step from being Karl Marx himself. And the lead singer of Korn told me he single handily wrote legislation that gives him the power to kill any american he wants and no republican was involved in the passage of that bill. And before I forget, he created (and only he created) the TSA to make sure he can personally fondle grannies and little kids and he plans to use the TSA to seize permanent control of the US!
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Obama is responsible for the massive increase in Federal spending, even under the Bush years.
The President has no authority over Federal spending. Congress does. The President submits a budget proposal. Congress throws that in the garbage and creates an actual budget. Once passed by both houses, the President cannot realistically veto it.
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Apparently GP forgot the <SARCASM> tags.
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Obama is responsible for the massive increase in Federal spending, even under the Bush years.
The President has no authority over Federal spending....
Man, that's the loudest WHOOOSH I've heard in a while.
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Doh. I didn't read past the sentence I quoted- which I see spouted in earnest every day on this site. I thought they meant to write "even more than under the Bush years" and fucked it up because they're stupid.
Oh well.
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Get some respect, man.
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With 10% of the USA on food stamps, you are jackass for not thinking Obama ISN'T buying everyone donuts.
He IS buying everyone DONUTS!
obliged... (Score:2)
He does good things, and the you bitch?
Obama could buy everyone in America free donuts and this site would find a way to complain about it.
Obama could buy everyone in America free donuts and this site would find a way to complain about it.
Free donuts may cause weight problems and increase health care costs.
Also how will dunkn donuts compete with free donuts being handed out by the government, think of the job loss.
Perhaps we need price supports for the oat farmers to compensate for lost revenue.
Who gets to decided what type of donut? Do beignets count?
Are there going to be no-bid contracts awarded for the making of donuts?
Unionize the workers, or make companies involved with donuts implement new federal contract minimum wage of $10.10/hr.
Ne
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You are stupid, and you are just looking fore excuses.
The fact that nearly every thing people complain about him is false tells me he must be doing something right.
1) How the frig did this ever get modded "Insightful"?
2) define "nearly every thing".
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And you seem unable to connect the dots. I'm with His Holiness on this one.
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But -- hey -- let's mod a political screed up because it responds to another political screed. Protip: A true artisan can pants a political screed without gutter diving and name calling.
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Kind of ironic you should be calling other people stupid when you can't spell "for"....
Re:Bureaucratic solution is not a solution (Score:5, Funny)
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Ohhh, could we launch an ICBM at the next patent troll? Pretty please? *puppyeyes*
Shock and awe might actually work for a change.
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It's a bureaucratic problem. What are you suggesting, a military solution?
Naw... How about un-red taping the red tape?
True. solve problems with same level of thinking? (Score:3)
I can't decide if that's a great point or off the mark.
The patent office bureaucracy has approved a bunch of bad patents.Improving
that bureaucratic process may well improve the results. On the other hand:
We can not solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.
Albert Einstein
Perhaps a bold, strong new leader at the patent office who did a lot of new things, including soliciting public comment, could make a big difference. Someone like Robert Gates, for example, could probabl
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I'm sorry, did you fall off the short yellow bus?
first to file has nothing to do with prior art.
The rest of the world has been doing it that way for a long time.
I Don't See The Problem Is... (Score:4, Funny)
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What's wrong with Drones?
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They do the exact same things that manned aircraft have been doing for 60 years, but because the pilot doesn't sit inside it's a big outrage for some reason.
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On the one hand we have patent trolls, and on the other we have a large fleet of drones armed with hellfire missiles. Seems like somewhere in the middle should be a solution!
I'm kind of hoping that a certain courthouse in East Texas is located in that middle ground... and that the missles are nuclear-tipped.
Or we could just go back to the Constitution (Score:5, Insightful)
Originally patents were for 13 years with one renewal by the original Person that applies and copyright was for 17 years with one renewal by the original Person that applies.
Go back to that and all the problems disappear.
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Originally patents were for 13 years with one renewal by the original Person that applies and copyright was for 17 years with one renewal by the original Person that applies.
Go back to that and all the problems disappear.
Along with most of the patents in the world... But that's your point right?
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Originally patents were for 13 years with one renewal by the original Person that applies and copyright was for 17 years with one renewal by the original Person that applies.
Go back to that and all the problems disappear.
Along with most of the patents in the world... But that's your point right?
And what's your problem with that? Patents and copyrights weren't intended for the perpetual siphoning of money to the corporations and descendants of the inventor/creator. If you can't make back your investment in 13 years with plenty of profit to spare, oh well. If someone else comes along after that, finds a market, and makes a profit - well sucks to be you, you blew it.. If you're living off the royalties of your grandfathers, or even fathers work, then get off your lazy ass and do something yoursel
Re:Or we could just go back to the Constitution (Score:5, Informative)
Originally patents were for 13 years with one renewal by the original Person that applies and copyright was for 17 years with one renewal by the original Person that applies.
Sure, but none of that is actually in the Constitution. Article 1, Section 8 empowers Congress to secure exculsive rights to inventors "for limited Times[sic]", without stipulating any actual limit. For practical purposes this enables Congress to extend patents and copyrights indefinitely.
The framers were men of remarkable vision to understand that patents were needed all the way back in 1787, but they weren't supermen or fortune tellers. They did not foresee the rise of corporations to become the dominant force in American society, or the uses they would dream up for the patent system. I doubt they ever imagined anything like a business methods patent, or a design patent, or the notion of Federal trademark law.
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The lived in a time that mega companies like the VoC existed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_East_India_Company
The VoC had 50,000 employees and a private army of 10,000. This company was allowed to wage and start wars in name of the Netherlands, including deciding with whom to go to war with.
Now big companies like IBM has 400,000 employees, but don't forget that the world population has also grown from 1 bil to 6 bil. Which makes the size of IBM in the same order of magnitude of the size of the VoC.
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Great...now just take care of the 2 biggest! (Score:1)
How about the REAL link? (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.whitehouse.gov/share/patents
Yet... (Score:2)
Intelectual property hurting business (Score:2)
and stagnating innovaton, say it aint so...
Legislation against patent trolls (Score:2)
It's unfortunate that the USPTO's new director and the White House are not taking aim at patent trolls specifically, but rather trying to deal with them by revamping the criteria for patentability in general. Patent trolls are bad enough that they ought to be treated as a first class problem. Even if it became next to impossible to patent prior art, trolls would still end up getting such patents and prevent companies from building things until they pay up. Maybe something like "You can't file a patent lawsu
Hrm.. corporate sponsorship? (Score:2)
You know, a few years ago it was kinda "unheard" of that the major corps would go at each other for patent issues, due to a sort of weird MAD scenario. Everyone would cross-license and be done with it. But with the latest rounds of patent cases, you'd think the companies would start hiring small armies of researchers to not only investigate entire portfolios of their competition, but also their competitions' applications for new patents.
Waste of time (Score:1)
So they basically went for a "feel good" solution with ZERO teeth that's only purpose is to duplicate functionality in the patent challenge space already fulfilled by other, better run sites that DON'T have to deal with government bullshit and won't fold the second a sufficiently large donation is made?
Yup. That's pretty much OhBlahBlah's entire presidency in microcosm there.
Public, do the work of the patent office (Score:2)
They have the temerity to ask the public to combat the effects of a completely rampant patent system they created themselves?
In effect, they're telling you "please do the work the patent office should have done in the first place". Real nice.
Just like WH Petitions! (Score:2)
Hey, so they want to make another site just like https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/ [whitehouse.gov] with the same level of support, feedback, and quality of response, correct? /sarcasm>
a bit one-sided (Score:1)