Comment Proposed solution (Score 1, Interesting) 302
How about this for a proposed solution:
1- You can't patent anything until it's been published in a peer-reviewed journal.
2- The duration of the patent is proportional to the clout of the journal.
Only novel ideas will get published in a scientific journal with any clout. And journals without a big name will only get you a patent for a few days. This way the drug companies can patent the fruits of their multi-million dollar investments. But when someone tries to patent something stupid like one-click shopping, they'll be laughed out of all the journals. So who will evaluate the clout of a journal? College professors do that already in order to establish who gets tenure and promotions, etc. Plus this would keep the decisions out of the patent office, giving them an opportunity to offload their problem of being overwhelmed with applications.
Of course the real solution is to abolish software patents, but that's a rather tough sell when lots of rich companies are lobbying against it, so how about seeking something that might actually succeed?
1- You can't patent anything until it's been published in a peer-reviewed journal.
2- The duration of the patent is proportional to the clout of the journal.
Only novel ideas will get published in a scientific journal with any clout. And journals without a big name will only get you a patent for a few days. This way the drug companies can patent the fruits of their multi-million dollar investments. But when someone tries to patent something stupid like one-click shopping, they'll be laughed out of all the journals. So who will evaluate the clout of a journal? College professors do that already in order to establish who gets tenure and promotions, etc. Plus this would keep the decisions out of the patent office, giving them an opportunity to offload their problem of being overwhelmed with applications.
Of course the real solution is to abolish software patents, but that's a rather tough sell when lots of rich companies are lobbying against it, so how about seeking something that might actually succeed?
