War on bogus internet patents.Two organisations from seemingly-opposite sides of the Intemet patent debate have teamed up to launch PriorArt.org, a service designed to halt the increasing number of bogus bo·gus adj. Counterfeit or fake; not genuine: bogus money; bogus tasks. [From obsolete bogus, a device for making counterfeit money. patents on software and other such Internet technologies that threaten to hinder hin·der 1 v. hin·dered, hin·der·ing, hin·ders v.tr. 1. To be or get in the way of. 2. To obstruct or delay the progress of. v.intr. the web's development. Intellectual property company IP.com and open source advocacy Open-source advocacy is the practice of attempting to increase the awareness and improve the perception of open-source software. In some cases, this may be in opposition to proprietary software. group Foresight Institute The Foresight Nanotech Institute (formerly Foresight Institute) is a Palo Alto, California-based nonprofit organization for increasing awareness the uses and consequences of molecular nanotechnology. , have launched the site as a tailored service for the Internet community. It will allow open source developers to publish, at no cost, a brief description of their software innovation in IP.com's OpenTech database--a practice commonly referred to as 'defensive publishing'. Then, under agreements between IP.com and various patent offices worldwide, this open source 'prior art' database will be made available to patent examiners A patent examiner or patent clerk is an employee, usually a civil servant, working within a patent office. Major employers of patent examiners are the European Patent Office (EPO), the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the Japan Patent Office. during their review of all new patent applications, ensuring that patents are not granted on previously disclosed ideas. As open source inventors have traditionally rejected patent protection for software in favour of a more collaborative, non-proprietary approach to innovation, development efforts are particularly vulnerable the escalating number of software patents. Such public disclosure of invention is vital as patents (and the monopoly rights that go with them) are, by law, supposed to be granted only to truly novel inventions. But due to the unprecedented increase in patent activity in recent years, patent offices concede con·cede v. con·ced·ed, con·ced·ing, con·cedes v.tr. 1. To acknowledge, often reluctantly, as being true, just, or proper; admit. See Synonyms at acknowledge. 2. that they are unable to search all the relevant prior art during its review of patent applications. The cost of fighting a US bogus patent claim, for example, can easily top $1 million. www.ip.com |
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