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January 10, 2006
Improving patent quality
I have to give the US Patent and Trademark Office credit for trying to improve patent quality after reading this in today's New York Times - "U.S. Office Joins an Effort to Improve Software Patents":
At a meeting last month with companies and organizations that support open-source software (software that can be distributed and modified freely), including I.B.M., Red Hat, Novell and some universities, officials of the patent office discussed how to give patent examiners access to better information and other ways to issue higher-quality patents.
Two of the initiatives would rely on recently developed Internet technologies. An open patent review program would set up a system on the patent office Web site where visitors could submit search criteria and subscribe to electronic alerts about patent applications in specific areas.
The third initiative is focused on the creation of a patent quality index that would serve as a tool for patent applicants to use in writing their applications. It is based on work done by R. Polk Wagner, an intellectual property expert at the University of Pennsylvania.
This is a good step forward in the type of industry-specific patent review processes we may need if we are to solve the quality problem.
Now if we can just get the legislative reforms moving as well . . .
Posted by Ken Jarboe at January 10, 2006 4:30 PM
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