Pachooka-san - Slashdot User

Submission + - The real problem with the US Patent system (washingtonpost.com)

Submitted by Pachooka-san on Thursday October 18, 2007 @12:24PM

Pachooka-san writes: Saw this article in the Washington Post. IANAPE (I am not a Patent Examiner), but from long discussions with one, it touches on the real patent problem — the quotas that Patent Examiners must meet. They have no effective quality standards, only production standards, so many applications get only cursory review, just so the PE can keep up the grueling pace. The USPTO is the only government agency that can and does lay you off if your productivity drops below 85% of the standard for your civil service grade. A Primary PE has to process 5 new and 5 old applications every 2 weeks (that's 8 hours each, folks). The best part — that 28-box application mentioned in the article? — it gets the PE the same credit as the smallest application — how many of those 28 boxes do you think even got opened?

Submission + - The Trolls of Myspace

Submitted by

blast3r

on Wednesday May 30, 2007 @03:10PM

blast3r writes: "The Trolls of Myspace Part I
Trolls seem to have taken over part of Myspace over the last several weeks. Intentionally attacking groups of people who object to their disruptive behavior as well as just attacking for the sake of the attack.
So, the definition we have known pertaining to Trolls has been somewhat benign. They come into forums to stir things up. Sure, most people hate trolls because they tend to slow down functionality of forum talks and they are just plain irritating. However, on Myspace, they seem to be evolving into a new breed of Trolls. It was found that Myspace had some weaknesses that would allow them to attack those that griped about their activities."

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