Re:Let me tell you what I know... (Score 1)

Actually, it should be obvious that the patent office needs money. Calling that "making money" was imprecise, but no office runs without money to pay for, say, the telephones, the desks, or the people who come in every day to do the work. Coming to the office "for the common good" is not an incentive for anyone who needs to pay rent or a mortgage and who needs to periodically eat food. So, yeah, it's obvious that the patent office needs money. It's equally obvious that the current method of making money directly contradicts the purpose of having a patent office in the first place, and I think that is your legitimate complaint, crabpeople. While I might commend your idealism and passion, unfortunately, you probably need a healthy dose of business sense to actually find a solution. Which is why I pointed to the Gamasutra article in the first place. Lawyers are making a lot of money in this field, maybe the patent office should try getting a cut of that instead a few dollars per frivolous patent.