On Mon, 2007-10-15 at 18:28 +0100, Simon Elliott wrote:
You can patent anything these days.. Very interesting stuff. My housemate is studying IP law this year, so I'll be telling him whenever I read anything on Groklaw about Microsoft being their usual silly selves with patenting things.
"Wayne is typing a message"
The problem with patents is that you play the silly game or you become a victim of the silly game. Patents are viral in their very nature because even if you never intend to enforce ownership of some so called intellectual property you need a portfolio of patents to defend yourself with. "Prior art" is broken as there have been numerous instances where there has been clear prior art yet the patent has been filed anyway. IMO a new system of peer review and careful moderation is the only way to save the situation. The system is broken and the quicker it collapses under it's own weight the better.
:-)