Re:A Bad Day for Patent Reform. A Bad Day for Innovation
by rayiner on Thursday May 22, 2014 @05:15AM
(#7782867)
The Partnership for American Innovation, which is basically an anti-reform group, includes Apple, Microsoft, IBM, DuPont, Pfizer, GE, and Ford. These are old-line American engineering companies, and make a living selling products, not licensing patents. They're synonymous with innovation (and STEM job creation) to your average Congresscritter. Reform is going to be difficult without getting more of these sorts of companies on the other side. The computer/internet folks have a very legitimate platform, but the coalition is too thin.
What made the coalition for reform though, was the non tech industry. Retail, the Chamber of Commerce, banks, grocers, restauranteurs, hoteliers, gaming, insurance, venture capital... Basically everyone else. The pro-reform group was called the big tent for a reason.
This was about a smallish number of companies wanting to extract profits from other companies, and using the brokenness of the patent system to do so.
No one would have objected of there was a sense that the allegations were fair or well-founded. The problem is that courts would by statute try to uphold claims that were ridiculous.
Patent suits are the spam of the court system - spam you have to pay to delete.