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European Patent Office issued fewer patents in 2007
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| Nonetheless, the EPO staff's morale seems to have never been lower. A survey
| conducted among several thousand staff members found that only 4 per cent
| have faith in the management board. Only 6 per cent said they were satisfied
| with their direct superiors and the president. The auditors have also long
| been complaining that they are chronically overworked.
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http://www.heise-online.co.uk/news/European-Patent-Office-issued-fewer-patents-in-2007--/110993
Sun too appears to be waking up.
It's a mad idea, but it just might work ....
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| On his blog, Sun’s general counsel Mike Dillon provides an explanation as to
| why his company took the decision back in 2005 to reduce the number of patent
| applications it files...
|
| Aside from our focus on patent quality, there is another reason we are
| filing fewer patents. It has to do with our business model. Unlike some
| companies, we don't have a corporate goal for revenue derived from patents
| (and patent litigation).
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http://www.iam-magazine.com/blog/Detail.aspx?g=57fea836-6a9b-4a5d-a3d0-6be79ae4bc88
The Intellectual Monopolies are meanwhile trying to corrupt the system with the
help of Commissioner Charlie McCreevy.
Recent:
[ffii] McCreevy wants to legalise Software Patents via a US-EU patent treaty
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| Brussels, 13 May 2008 -- European Commissioner McCreevy is pushing for a
| bilateral patent treaty with the United States. This Tuesday 13 May in
| Brussels, White House and European representatives will try to adopt a
| tight roadmap for the signature of a EU-US patent treaty by the end of
| the year. Parts of the proposed treaty will contain provision on
| software patents, and could legalise them on both sides of the Atlantic.
|
| "TEC talks are the current push for software patents. The US want to
| eliminate the higher standards of the European Patent Convention. The
| bilateral agenda is dictated by multinationals gathered in the
| Transatlantic Economic Business Dialogue (TABD). When you have a look
| who is in the Executive Board of the TABD, you find not a single
| European SME in there", says Benjamin Henrion, a Brussels based patent
| policy specialist.
|
| The Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC) which comprises EU and US high
| level representatives put a substantive harmonisation of patent law on
| its agenda. Substantive patent law covers what is patentable or not. The
| attempt to impose the low US standards on Europe via the Substantive
| Patent Law Treaty (SPLT) process utterly failed at the World
| Intellectual Property Organisation. Also progress in the WIPO B+
| subgroup (without development nations) could not be reached.
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http://lwn.net/Articles/282000/
More mutual recognition talk as patent harmonisation efforts intensify
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| Essentially, these talks are about harmonising substantive patent law,
| including areas such as priority of invention, the grace period, the
| definition of prior art and loss of right provisions. However, I wonder
| whether Brimelow – who always considers her words very carefully – is hinting
| that other things may now be on the agenda. It is interesting that when she
| spoke to me about this, and also in the BBC interview, she talked about users
| of the patent system raising the issue of mutual recognition. In that way,
| any talks on the subject can be seen as being responsive and not as
| policy-makers going out on a limb.
|
| [...]
|
| And, who knows, after the In re Bilski case is finally resolved at either the
| CAFC or the Supreme Court, Europe and the US may even be a little closer with
| regard to the controversial areas of business methods and software patents.
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http://www.iam-magazine.com/blog/Detail.aspx?g=7a3babb6-9ac4-4f67-b17d-e66730fe948e
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