Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: Something positive people can do

Author:Gary Robinson
Posted:2/28/2000; 11:12:04 AM
Topic:scriptingNews outline for 2/27/00
Msg #:15319 (In response to 15314)
Prev/Next:15318 / 15320

I think it WOULD make sense for software patents to have terms of 3 or 5 years, because it is in the nature of software to evolve more quickly than other fields in which physical experiments have to be conducted in order to see whether ideas will actually work.

My understanding is that under present law if you file for a patent knowing the existence of prior art, the patent and all claims -- even those unrelated to the prior art -- are revoked. So that's pretty good, but it doesn't address the obviousness issue except in cases where one can say that the jump to the bogus patent from the prior art is so obvious that it really is no different from the prior art.

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