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Replying To:
Patent Law is a Mess[ Parent ] (none / 0) (#8)
by srynas on Tue Feb 21, 2006 at 11:11:43 AM PDT

In response to Anonymous, the validity of patents is determined by the patent office, not the court system.  If I recall correctly, the patent office had issued a preliminary decision to invalidate the NTP patents, but the Court ruled in the favor of NTP because the court could not "speculate" on when the patent office would make a final decision.  I would assume that once the patent office makes a final decision, that it would rule in favor of RIM..

Furthermore, while each of Anonymous' examples point to one form of clear patent abuse, Anonymous is apparently overlooking the growing abuse of patents.  Patents were once granted for working devices that perform a specific task, they were not granted for ideas.  Patent holders today are debasing the patent concept by claiming that ideas, generic tasks, product variations, or even products that have not been introduced commercially can all be "protected" under patent law as intellectual property.  Additionally, the time honored concept of reverse engineering to develop an alternative method of performing a task appears to have been criminalized.  We need a revitalized patent law that protects true innovation when it is introduced into the marketplace.


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