Journal Journal: Fair Patent System Idea
Patents are relatively expensive to apply for, so for big companies like Microsoft, filing for 'em by the thousands takes only pocket change, yet for the average Joe/Jane, even filing one claim can be a major investment. So to balance out patent power I propose the following.
NOTE: If Cringely or someone else has already come up with this idea, forgive me--I haven't read their article.
Create a simple "prior art" filing for a small fee of say, US $10-$20 or so. Anyone can file as many of these as they wish. However, this filing does not give any exclusive rights to the applicant--it just allows the technology in question to be used free of licensing fees. To keep processing costs low, this type of claim will only be checked for valid applicant info, completeness, etc. Afterward it is filed away and never looked at until the need arises, which brings us to the next topic.
If a company files a "real" patent application, any of the "prior art" filings can be pulled on request for a "challenge fee" (paid for by the "prior art" holder) and used to invalidate the patent claim. If the "prior art" does invalidate a patent claim, the technology in question will remain free of exclusive rights. A prior art claim may be used to invalidate a patent (pending or granted) for up to 3 years. This allows the prior art holder to raise funding needed to pay the challenge fee (which should be easy if the technology is popular enough).
(More details to be worked out later.)
NOTE: If Cringely or someone else has already come up with this idea, forgive me--I haven't read their article.
Create a simple "prior art" filing for a small fee of say, US $10-$20 or so. Anyone can file as many of these as they wish. However, this filing does not give any exclusive rights to the applicant--it just allows the technology in question to be used free of licensing fees. To keep processing costs low, this type of claim will only be checked for valid applicant info, completeness, etc. Afterward it is filed away and never looked at until the need arises, which brings us to the next topic.
If a company files a "real" patent application, any of the "prior art" filings can be pulled on request for a "challenge fee" (paid for by the "prior art" holder) and used to invalidate the patent claim. If the "prior art" does invalidate a patent claim, the technology in question will remain free of exclusive rights. A prior art claim may be used to invalidate a patent (pending or granted) for up to 3 years. This allows the prior art holder to raise funding needed to pay the challenge fee (which should be easy if the technology is popular enough).
(More details to be worked out later.)
