The Archaic Patent Office and It's better Days.

There was a time when patents were a good idea because it made an inventor more willing to share his invention with the world--in fact, the patent office insists that when you describe your invention, others should also be able to make it; just not make money off of that copying without a license from the inventor.

So, you've invented something. You think it will make millions for you and benefit the World even though the latter is not a requirement. You produce the thing and find that someone has infringed on your patent before your product has even taken off. It cost you almost every spare penny you had. Now, you've got to mortgage your home because it is now up to you to sue and the courts now have to determine who really infringed on whom and what might you have done that invalidates the patent. Perhaps you left out a pertinent "prior art" that duped the patent office into giving you that patent [prior art must be acknowledged even though the USPTO has the best searchers and search facilities and will do the search anyway]. There are simply no guarantees in the world of patents. Even if you did everything perfectly, the infringer may be someone in another country (China?) who does not recognize ANY patents. [Btw, thank you China for my $80 hearing aid--I saved thousands on an excellent product].

As far as I'm concerned, if you have a good idea, all you have to do is to quickly bring it to market. Be the first, establish your name, and you'll be sitting pretty like the "My Pillow" dude. There's nothing special about that pillow that can't be copied by anyone enterprising enough to change it ever so slightly that no patent infringement can ever be claimed by the "My Pillow" company. Now, you may not want to tangle with him because you may not want to incur litigation costs when he files a lawsuit. However, what if your copy was indeed a better pillow? Your only recourse might be to have it manufactured in China and hope that "My Pillow" never finds out because you've taken pains to leave out "patented foam fill" from your descriptions.

Let's now consider that your invention is great but you do not have the resources to produce it quickly. Perhaps it is a high-tech item that requires a lot of technological expertise to produce and you don't have a buddy at Goldman-Sachs. In the time it takes you start production, someone has copied your invention, produced it and has established name recognition for the product. Sure, you can sue, but what will it cost you to get a better lawyer than your opponent's? Do any of us know of anyone who has been stopped as a result of a patent infringement lawsuit? They are very rare. Just look at how much Microsoft has infringed on patents from Xerox (windows GUI was not Microsoft's brainchild) and has never paid a penny. Usually the best case is that the infringer gets a license to continue making the product. Meanwhile, you've gone through hell just coming up with the money to sue. Worst case is that the infringer modifies his copy of your invention EVER SO SLIGHTLY so that you're left with nothing. If you make three claims on your application, someone can come along and infringe two of those claims while modifying the third and he's good to go.

I don't have to tell you who really profits from the archaic patent office: the lawyers who charge you for knowing the exact language and drawings that are acceptable; the patent bureaucrats themselves, of course; and, the rich inventors (corporations) who have the means of paying for patents and thereby intimidating others from copying something which could have been made cheaper and better than their original.

What's the solution? Dump the whole business and let companies be the first to market and with good product and good customer relations, keep producing product until the cows come home. Just look at products like Clorox or Comet or any of the sundry cosmetics or personal products that people are wedded to. Minimally, what you can do in the way of protection--and this is mostly for the benefit of investors who want to know that you were indeed first--is an old idea that patent attorneys advise against (big surprise there)--mail a copy of your invention to yourself which you never open unless you need to establish precedence. However, we should keep a small patent office that will make a copy of your invention and stamp it with a "date received;" never mind that it may be an infringement--the courts have to decide anyway but there should be an option for a jury trial where your peers can say, "I see no difference between product A and product B and recognize that product A was conceived first." Of course, there are always caveats and one I'd like to address is to insist that for your lawsuit to be valid, you must show that you have done everything in your power to bring it to market. You can't just conceive of things and file it away until a more opportune time to sue an infringer.

Are we back to square one? No, because the cost of an application is now a nominal fee and no patent attorneys are needed for the defense of an idea. The defending party is more likely to negotiate a settlement knowing that a jury will pass proper judgement against them.

Finally, every good product survives its patent protection so why give patents to crappy products that ultimately just hinder innovation. Arduino makes a ton of money yet it's products are in the public domain (open source). People are so appreciative of these people that they donate to them in addition to buying their only slightly more expensive product but which come with name recognition that speaks of great customer service and established quality. They did trademark their name and this is a good thing, of course.

It's time to tell the emperor just how naked he really is--get a real job, parasites.