Headline, December28, 2013

''' PATENTS HAVE LONG VEXED 

THE LEGAL MINDS '''

Continuing with the baseline perspective:

The Supreme Court of the U.S. ruled that such damages should be limited to sales in America, but not abroad.

This then went on to help Microsoft in an another infringement case in which it was ordered to pay $ 1.5 billion to Alcatel Lucent, a telecom equipment firm, largely on the base of sale outside America.

The underlying problem is that as the number of patents, and the value of each one, has increased tremendously, the system has been slow to adapt.

The flood of applications taxed patents offices, creating huge backlogs and lengthy delays. Standards slipped. The number of law suits and and value of settlements shot up.

Attempts over many years by Congress to reform the system stalled, owing to a lack of agreement between the computer and drug industries on what should change.

So the Supreme Court's decision try to do what the policy makers could not.  

How non-obvious an idea needs to be to qualify for a patent has long vexed the legal minds.

The invention had to be  ''something more than the work of a skilled mechanic''. the Supreme Court of U.S. opined in 1850.

In 1941, it set the bar higher, requiring a  ''flash of genius''.

In 1952 Congress loosened the standard, stating the idea simply needed not to be obvious  ''to a person having ordinary skills''.

Therefore, the 2007 ruling, provides the contours of modern patent policy, by implicitly stating :

That inventions ought to be familiar with practices from other fields and that combining existing technologies is not enough, said Dominique Guellec of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

It may thus end the boom in reviled  ''business method patents'' , which often entail the application of obvious things, such as shopping or auctions, to an online setting.

And it was expected that it will probably prompt patent regimes in other countries to become more stringent, too?!!

With respectful dedication to the Students, Professors and Teachers of the world : And for this time, the wisdom of William James comes to mind:

^A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices^.

See Ya all on !WOW! the World Students Society Computers-Internet-Wireless:

Good Night & God Bless!

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless