USPTO to Use Peer to Patent Program 124
An anonymous reader writes "DailyTech is reporting that the US Patent and Trademark Office is going to start using the Peer to Patent program. From the article:' The US Patent and Trademark Office has been getting praise for officially launching the Peer to Patent program -- the purpose of Peer to Patent is to find patents that have been issued for already made products or items that don't properly qualify for a patent. Because the USPTO usually does not have the manpower and time to thoroughly check every patent that comes into the office, many are unjustly rubber stamped.' The program will utilize a Wiki, among other tools, to get the job done."
Re:Two words: (Score:4, Interesting)
No one would submit tons of patent applications at once and hope something (or everything pass).
And it doesn't disadvantage the small guy.
A step in the right direction. (Score:5, Interesting)
If an existing patent grant is subsequently overturned for reasons that the applicant could reasonably discovered themselves then they should be penalised. It should be expected that the applicant has searched exhaustively (or at least as much as can be reasonably expected) before applying in the first place. Why should anyone else have to bear that burden?
Re:Infant Stage (Score:2, Interesting)
The incentive is that consumers will be able to more fully hold companies accountable for their actions resulting in fewer patent lawsuits, unfair competitive advantages, etc. This will all result in lower prices for products and a wider variety of products to choose from.
Re:"underpaid and overwhelmed" (Score:5, Interesting)
It wasn't hard to figure out why, they were offering salaries nearly $15k lower than the competition. A CS/EE Master's degree and a 3.9-4.0 GPA would earn you something like $56k. In the DC area that's roughly $35k if you live somewhere with an average cost-of-living. Needless to say, most weren't too interested in the USPTO.
To make matters worse, the job is awful. You are given x number of patents a week, period. Whether or not you finish them you're still getting them piled on you. It's just one after the other, like sorting mail your whole life. They tried to make it sound exciting, but it just wasn't.
I spoke with some people who worked at the USPTO. They hated their lives. Their technical skills went completely to waste and they quickly learned you either become a patent lawyer or you flounder and die.
This grim picture is all the USPTO has to offer to incoming recruits, and no wonder they are understaffed. Lousy patents making it through the system makes sense when you're reduced to hiring the desperate and underqualified. That's why I'm excited about this program. It allows others to help make decisions and provide insight rather than placing the entire burden on an underpaid, understaffed government office. A much needed change.
Re:Infant Stage (Score:3, Interesting)
In fact, chances are you'd be punished for joining as it'd leave you exposed to willful infringement claims.
The patent systems problems cant be solved within the current framework; the system itself isnt founded on a self-balancing financial structure, making it impossible to analyze, optimize and budget for.
Re:Why should this change anything at all? (Score:5, Interesting)
my 2 cents, not one red cent more from me.
Re:"underpaid and overwhelmed" (Score:3, Interesting)
Some dead German guy. (Score:2, Interesting)
And even that German guy got out of the business eventually, and found better things to do.