Justice gone backwards

Photo from Reuters

Summary: A patent case in the United States gets sent from SCOTUS to CACF, showing a rather odd hierarchy of justice (top-to-bottom, back to notorious patent boosters)

THE Rader corruption and the impact on CAFC was mentioned here just weeks ago, noting that the Court had been put under mortal danger (some people call for its abandonment/abolishment). This is the court which was responsible for software patents in the United States, home of software patents (universally). According to this update from the EFF, CAFC may actually have a go at overriding SCOTUS. As the EFF put it: "The Ultramercial case has been bouncing around the federal courts for years. In 2010, a trial court held the patent invalid on the grounds it claimed an abstract idea. On appeal, the Federal Circuit reversed, finding the patent non-abstract because it “clearly require[s] specific application to the Internet and a cyber-market environment.” The Supreme Court then sent the case back to the Federal Circuit for reconsideration. In a remarkable decision by former Chief Judge Randall Rader, the lower court thumbed its nose at Supreme Court authority and upheld the patent for a second time. The defendants returned to the Supreme Court. EFF filed an amicus brief urging the Court to take the case and find the patent abstract."

The US patent system seem to favour those with money (for more motions and appeals), not those with original ideas. It is a real problem. Watch how the USPTO, led by corporate masters like IBM, stops beneficial products from reaching their full potential:

We've seen this many times before, how patents can hold back very useful developments. Notice how 3D printing is suddenly a big thing? It's not because of any new miraculous breakthroughs, but because some key patents finally started expiring, allowing real innovation to move forward. We saw something similar in the field of infrared grills, which were put on the... uh... back burner (sorry) until key patents expired. Derek now points us to a similar example.

This article goes on to showing how microwaves got retarded by patents, and there's no exception here. Patents just tend to harm innovation and those who promote them (usually lawyers) do a great disservice to society.

One day the patent system (if it still exists in its current form) might actually be reshaped by people representative of society, not patent lawyers. ⬆