USPTO likely to adopt 'peer-to-patent' (Feb 2010)

Re:USPTO likely to adopt 'peer-to-patent' (Feb 2010) by JabavuAdams on Tuesday October 12, 2010 @01:10PM (#1784088)

I realize that combinations of algorithms are still algorithms, but where do you stop?

The main problem with software patents for me are that

1) They stifle innovation by killing small projects or forcing innovators to not care about infringing (for which they can be sued later).

2) A lot of them are BS. There may be not prior art in the patent database, but for a specialist in the field, they're obvious.

3) It costs too much to patent, which puts too much power in large companies' hands. They can spam the USPTO with brain farts, with some non-zero probability of having them approved. If I save for a year, I can make one patent application per year.

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Re:USPTO likely to adopt 'peer-to-patent' (Feb 2010) by shasta on Tuesday October 12, 2010 @01:55PM (#1784251)

In other words, there's no problem with software (or other) patents in theory, but currently the pragmatics are out of whack. Software patents are no different than other forms of patents except that many of the coefficients involved are very different from other industries, which significantly changes the calculus. Complete elimination of software patents would be preferable to what we have now, but IMO wouldn't necessarily be the optimal solution.

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