Comments on: Fact-checking US patent-boss's defense of his job http://boingboing.net/2012/11/21/fact-checking-us-patent-boss.html Brain candy for Happy Mutants Tue, 21 May 2013 23:59:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 By: rtb61 http://boingboing.net/2012/11/21/fact-checking-us-patent-boss.html#comment-1590029 rtb61 Fri, 23 Nov 2012 05:26:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=195502#comment-1590029 Someone gave him the job and keeps him there. Basically if it hasn't been patented allow it and let the courts sort it out woohoo. Someone gave him the job and keeps him there. Basically if it hasn’t been patented allow it and let the courts sort it out woohoo.

]]> By: Sigmund_Jung http://boingboing.net/2012/11/21/fact-checking-us-patent-boss.html#comment-1589657 Sigmund_Jung Thu, 22 Nov 2012 15:59:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=195502#comment-1589657 Patents are elitist and expensive -- the opposite of what they should be. They are supposed to protect an inventor from the economic power of larger companies. You should be allowed to create a great invention and profit from it, regardless of the depth of your pocket. But the whole process is actually expensive, and trully protecting your invention requires filings all over the world. How to create a system where a true innovation can be patented at a reasonable cost, while at the same time avoiding the patent of the "swing"? Patents are elitist and expensive — the opposite of what they should be. They are supposed to protect an inventor from the economic power of larger companies. You should be allowed to create a great invention and profit from it, regardless of the depth of your pocket. But the whole process is actually expensive, and trully protecting your invention requires filings all over the world. How to create a system where a true innovation can be patented at a reasonable cost, while at the same time avoiding the patent of the “swing”?

]]> By: ffabian http://boingboing.net/2012/11/21/fact-checking-us-patent-boss.html#comment-1589534 ffabian Thu, 22 Nov 2012 13:16:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=195502#comment-1589534 "Our patent system is the envy of the world," I like that in the US everything is the best, greatest, highest, fastest thing in the world ... or thats what most USians like to tell us "foreigners". They like to tell you AND themselves that they have the most freedom, the best justice system, health care, largest hamburger etc. even when it's evidently not true (just a few examples regarding freedom and justice: torture, drone kills, detention without trial, spying on citizens, death penalty etc.).  Is this some sort of mass delusion? Propanda? Ignorance? Do they really believe such phrases like "envy of the world"? This baffles me every time I read such utterances. “Our patent system is the envy of the world,”
I like that in the US everything is the best, greatest, highest, fastest thing in the world … or thats what most USians like to tell us “foreigners”. They like to tell you AND themselves that they have the most freedom, the best justice system, health care, largest hamburger etc. even when it’s evidently not true (just a few examples regarding freedom and justice: torture, drone kills, detention without trial, spying on citizens, death penalty etc.). 
Is this some sort of mass delusion? Propanda? Ignorance? Do they really believe such phrases like “envy of the world”? This baffles me every time I read such utterances.

]]> By: That_Anonymous_Coward http://boingboing.net/2012/11/21/fact-checking-us-patent-boss.html#comment-1589426 That_Anonymous_Coward Thu, 22 Nov 2012 08:15:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=195502#comment-1589426 Can't we just run the electricity through this idiot and get someone in charge who will end the madness? Can’t we just run the electricity through this idiot and get someone in charge who will end the madness?

]]> By: blissfulight http://boingboing.net/2012/11/21/fact-checking-us-patent-boss.html#comment-1589421 blissfulight Thu, 22 Nov 2012 07:55:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=195502#comment-1589421 Patent critics:  "No." Patent critics:  ”No.”

]]> By: rrh http://boingboing.net/2012/11/21/fact-checking-us-patent-boss.html#comment-1589406 rrh Thu, 22 Nov 2012 07:22:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=195502#comment-1589406 Well, fire is not a machine, and it's energy, so it's not a composition of matter. I suppose you could argue it's an article of manufacture, but that's iffy since fire can also occur naturally from lightning and volcanoes and so forth. Your best bet is to patent the methods of setting fires. So rubbing two sticks together, that's a patent. Electrical sparks, that's a patent. Etc., etc. Well, fire is not a machine, and it’s energy, so it’s not a composition of matter.

I suppose you could argue it’s an article of manufacture, but that’s iffy since fire can also occur naturally from lightning and volcanoes and so forth.

Your best bet is to patent the methods of setting fires. So rubbing two sticks together, that’s a patent. Electrical sparks, that’s a patent. Etc., etc.

]]> By: robertjberger http://boingboing.net/2012/11/21/fact-checking-us-patent-boss.html#comment-1589407 robertjberger Thu, 22 Nov 2012 07:22:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=195502#comment-1589407 Time to give David Kappos a rest and retire the rest of the patent office bozos who can't see prior art if it slaps them in the face. Time to give David Kappos a rest and retire the rest of the patent office bozos who can’t see prior art if it slaps them in the face.

]]> By: That_Anonymous_Coward http://boingboing.net/2012/11/21/fact-checking-us-patent-boss.html#comment-1589340 That_Anonymous_Coward Thu, 22 Nov 2012 04:48:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=195502#comment-1589340 Rounded rectangles a breakthrough...  he needs to be taken out and beaten for saying this with a straight face. Rounded rectangles a breakthrough…  he needs to be taken out and beaten for saying this with a straight face.

]]> By: Marja Erwin http://boingboing.net/2012/11/21/fact-checking-us-patent-boss.html#comment-1589336 Marja Erwin Thu, 22 Nov 2012 04:43:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=195502#comment-1589336 Quoth the article: "Indeed, Kappos suggested that the volume of patent litigation in the smartphone industry was a sign that the patent system was working as intended. "The explosion of litigation we are seeing is a reflection of how the patent system wires us for innovation," Kappos said. "It's natural and reasonable that innovators would seek to protect their breakthroughs using the patent system."" So yes, he does seem to see it that way. Next: Why war among the nobility, mostly killing peasants, means feudalism is working for everyone! Quoth the article:

“Indeed, Kappos suggested that the volume of patent litigation in the smartphone industry was a sign that the patent system was working as intended. “The explosion of litigation we are seeing is a reflection of how the patent system wires us for innovation,” Kappos said. “It’s natural and reasonable that innovators would seek to protect their breakthroughs using the patent system.”"

So yes, he does seem to see it that way.

Next: Why war among the nobility, mostly killing peasants, means feudalism is working for everyone!

]]> By: ldobe http://boingboing.net/2012/11/21/fact-checking-us-patent-boss.html#comment-1589263 ldobe Thu, 22 Nov 2012 02:24:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=195502#comment-1589263 I wouldn't be surprised if Kappos would reply that: without the burden of fire, innovators would be incentivized to create sustainable fusion!  And once that's patented, innovators would then move on to matter-antimatter annihilation powered heating systems. I have no idea what comes after that though.  Maybe extracting energy out of the CMB, much like a dried up raisin of a person chewing on a dry sponge in the desert. I wouldn’t be surprised if Kappos would reply that: without the burden of fire, innovators would be incentivized to create sustainable fusion!  And once that’s patented, innovators would then move on to matter-antimatter annihilation powered heating systems.

I have no idea what comes after that though.  Maybe extracting energy out of the CMB, much like a dried up raisin of a person chewing on a dry sponge in the desert.

]]> By: That_Anonymous_Coward http://boingboing.net/2012/11/21/fact-checking-us-patent-boss.html#comment-1589202 That_Anonymous_Coward Thu, 22 Nov 2012 00:47:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=195502#comment-1589202 One sometimes wonders where we would be today if someone had patented fire. One sometimes wonders where we would be today if someone had patented fire.

]]> By: EH http://boingboing.net/2012/11/21/fact-checking-us-patent-boss.html#comment-1589200 EH Thu, 22 Nov 2012 00:45:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=195502#comment-1589200 Fire David Kappos. Fire David Kappos.

]]> By: nixiebunny http://boingboing.net/2012/11/21/fact-checking-us-patent-boss.html#comment-1589196 nixiebunny Thu, 22 Nov 2012 00:40:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=195502#comment-1589196 That's been my take on the patent system for a long time. Its purpose is to keep patent lawyers employed. My name is on a couple patents, but I haven't made a dime from them. In each case, someone I know spent several thousand dollars to lawyers to file the patents. That’s been my take on the patent system for a long time. Its purpose is to keep patent lawyers employed.

My name is on a couple patents, but I haven’t made a dime from them. In each case, someone I know spent several thousand dollars to lawyers to file the patents.

]]> By: Brainspore http://boingboing.net/2012/11/21/fact-checking-us-patent-boss.html#comment-1589191 Brainspore Thu, 22 Nov 2012 00:34:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=195502#comment-1589191 His position seems patently absurd. His position seems patently absurd.

]]> By: That_Anonymous_Coward http://boingboing.net/2012/11/21/fact-checking-us-patent-boss.html#comment-1589184 That_Anonymous_Coward Thu, 22 Nov 2012 00:26:00 +0000 http://boingboing.net/?p=195502#comment-1589184 Please note, he has a law degree so in his mind the system is working perfectly keeping lawyers employed. Please note, he has a law degree so in his mind the system is working perfectly keeping lawyers employed.

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