Eisenhower warns us of the military industrial complex



Summary: Vested interests in the patents industry make the USPTO an inherent enemy of public interests

THE USPTO clearly got out of control. Watch this article and another one titled "Software patents – new USPTO pilot program to expedite examination". This was reported shortly before the SCOTUS rules against the excess of software patents. The former head of the USPTO was a big proponent of software patents and it's not surprising; the USPTO just seeks to increase its power by patenting everything under the Sun. After a coup by corporations like IBM (which put their mole there) it seems like there's no going back to sanity unless the whole institution gets rebooted or de-funded/dismantled. The Obama Administration made things worse because almost no patent application gets rejected anymore. They pretend it's indicative of greater innovation.

Patent offices lobbying for more power and wider scope of patents is not just a problem in the US, but like most things, it's far bigger in the US and there is huge trans-Pacific/Atlantic lobbying trying to have every other system assimilated to US law. Watch what's going on in India, which keeps fighting against crazy patent monopolies from the West. India has fought hard against software patents despite pressure from some Indian patent lawyers who of course wanted these. It was the same in New Zealand, where the lawyers are now whining that they don't get much business. To quote a new article: "A review of the numbers of local patent filings made in New Zealand and who was making those applications revealed the rather startling statistic that a large proportion of local patent filings were not made through specialist IP firms, instead they appeared to be self filed."

Wherever we go in the world there is a war waged by parasitic patent lawyers who try to tax innovation while promising to ban competition or tax the competition (they get commissions on it all). In the patent system itself there is a big desire to always patent more and more things (unlike in courts), so there too there is a conflict of interest and we must stop it. Eternal warfare is market stability to arms companies and maximal patenting/litigation is market stability to law firms. We should tackle both problems similarly and mercilessly. It's not going to be easy. ⬆