Puneet knows his stuff! As for reform, there are things underway. Big things as far as USPTO goes. First is 'peer to patent': http://www.peertopatent.org/
And next is the (slow) end to business method patents: http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINN3026126020081030 US is still a bit out of line relative to international patent regimes, but it's (slowly) getting there... Ian White :: Urban Mapping Inc 690 Fifth Street Suite 200 :: San Francisco CA 94107 T.415.947.8170 x800 :: F.866.385.8266 :: urbanmapping.com/blog -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of P Kishor Sent: Tuesday, March 10, 2009 9:52 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Geowanking] Patent Law - Taking a turn for the worse... On Tue, Mar 10, 2009 at 11:42 AM, Landon Blake <[email protected]> wrote: > Just when I was hoping we might see some patent law reform, I heard this > story on proposed changes to the patent system: > > > > http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/03/10/patent_law/ > > > > It would award patents to the first entity to file a patent application, not > the entity to first use a patented idea. Actually, "first to invent" not first to use. First-to-file is the norm in most of the world. I believe the US and perhaps Philippines follow first-to-invent. The US also gives a one year grace period from the date of invention to filing the application that you don't lose your rights to patent that application. However, rest of the world doesn't give such grace period. The pros and cons have been debated for a long time, and become particularly thorny when dealing with patents with worldwide appeal. One compromise might be that the US might get a "first inventor to file" in case of two or more inventors claiming the same invention. > Would this basically abolish "prior > art"? No, this has nothing to do with "prior art" as I understand it. > > > > This is getting ugly. > > > > Landon > > > .. -- Puneet Kishor http://www.punkish.org/ Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies http://www.nelson.wisc.edu/ Carbon Model http://carbonmodel.org/ Open Source Geospatial Foundation http://www.osgeo.org/ Sent from: Madison WI United States. _______________________________________________ Geowanking mailing list [email protected] http://geowanking.org/mailman/listinfo/geowanking_geowanking.org No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.0.237 / Virus Database: 270.11.9/1992 - Release Date: 03/10/09 07:19:00 _______________________________________________ Geowanking mailing list [email protected] http://geowanking.org/mailman/listinfo/geowanking_geowanking.org
