Summary: The USPTO needs advice from the public as flaws are realised and a solution is seen as required

THE USPTO is not particularly bright if it truly decided to issue some of the statements Patently-O speaks about:

PTO Asks for Comments on Improving Patent Quality

The PTO is on a mission to “improve the quality of the overall patent examination and prosecution process, to reduce patent application pendency, and to ensure that granted patents are valid and provide clear notice.”

This is an admission that the USPTO has problems with the "overall patent examination and prosecution process", the backlog, and the validity of patents (i.e. ensuring that they are not trivial and not attributable to prior work by others).

It is nice to know that the USPTO understands that there is work to be done. Removal of software patents would help.

Microsoft, the company which uses patents to attack GNU and Linux, is already facing 50+ lawsuits for patent infringement. In the news we also have:

● Microsoft sued in patent spat

A Massachusetts software company filed suit in Boston’s District Court against Microsoft Corp., claiming the Redmond software giant infringed its patent on a business method for extracting data from spreadsheets.

● Apple, Others, Hit with Remote App Activation Patent Infringement Suit

Apple, Adobe, Microsoft and several other companies were hit with a patent infringement suit on Monday by BetaNet for violating a patent it owns. The case alleges the companies are violating a patent that describes a process for securely activating software remotely, according to The Loop.

● Apple, Adobe, Microsoft, others sued for patent infringement

It is hoped that if Microsoft gets sued massively, then the benefit of their patents will no longer exceed the cost, so the patent spiel will be outlived by some sanity. ⬆