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Patents

by Mike Masnick

Thu, Jan 20th 2011 10:00pm




Filed Under:
patent reform, patents, patrick leahy


Leahy Brings Back Patent Reform Act That Doesn't Actually Fix Any Of The Patent System's Problems

from the here-we-go-again dept

As was expected, Patrick Leahy has announced plans to reintroduce patent reform legislation next week. You can read the full text of the bill (pdf), but it looks pretty similar to what was attempted last year. More or less every year for a while now, Congress has tried to pass patent reform legislation. It comes out in January, with claims from those supporting it that this will be the year where it finally gets approved, and every year it dies. It's also worth noting that every year it's watered down more and more in that attempt to get it approved. It was a bad bill to begin with years back, and gets worse each year. It will do almost nothing to mitigate the actual problems of the patent system, and could do a few things to make them worse. It seems like a waste of time to even go through the motions on this again, knowing that it's likely to end up with the same fate as each failed attempt before.

11 Comments | Leave a Comment

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  1.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Jan 20th, 2011 @ 10:49pm

    Perhaps this is the year Techdirt hires a lobbying firm to get its own version of Patent Reform passed?

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  
    icon
    Andy (profile), Jan 20th, 2011 @ 10:51pm

    The definition of insanity

    As the popular saying goes: The definition of insanity is repeating the same actions and expecting different results.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  
    icon
    Jay (profile), Jan 20th, 2011 @ 11:05pm

    Serious question

    How is Patrick Leahy not a joke?

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  4.  
    icon
    The eejit (profile), Jan 21st, 2011 @ 12:51am

    Re: Serious question

    Because he's a Sena-

    Oh, wait.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  5.  
    identicon
    NullOp, Jan 21st, 2011 @ 5:32am

    But it looks good...

    The old placebo-law trick is used once again...

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  6.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Jan 21st, 2011 @ 5:51am

    It should be renamed to the Duke Nukem bill

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  7.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Jan 21st, 2011 @ 6:25am

    As long as a senator has someone to second a bill, he can keep adding it onto the order paper each year, where it dies at the end of the session. There is nothing really magical here, just a Senator trying to look like he is doing something when in fact he is doing nothing. It pads a legislative resume, and plays well in the next campaign "Leahy championed real change to our copyright system", all the while knowing it will never even make it to committee.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  8.  
    icon
    Berenerd (profile), Jan 21st, 2011 @ 6:51am

    Re: Serious question

    Sadly, Leahy at one time was a good Senator. Seems now someone has found his price.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  9.  
    icon
    Ronald J Riley (profile), Jan 21st, 2011 @ 7:29am

    Racket

    Leahy is just milking Patent Deform for contributions. It sure looks like an extortion racket to me. It is time that all the players come together and fund an opponent of Leahy.

    Some needs to pass a law to stop this.

    Ronald J. Riley,

    President - www.PIAUSA.org - RJR at PIAUSA.org

    Other Affiliations:
    Executive Director - www.InventorEd.org - RJR at InvEd.org
    Senior Fellow - www.PatentPolicy.org
    President - Alliance for American Innovation
    Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder Paul Heckel
    Washington, DC
    Direct (202) 318-1595 - 9 am to 9 pm EST.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  10.  
    identicon
    NY Inventor, Jan 21st, 2011 @ 9:43pm

    Leahy is in Microsoft's pocket

    Microsoft is tired of getting sued for all of the technology that they steal. If you look at Leahy's biggest contributors its a Microsoft Who's Who.

    Microsoft has not innovated in 15 years. Of course they do not want a strong patent system. The irony of it all is they try to sell this garbage as a way to strengthen innovation. It's goal is to crush innovation.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  11.  
    icon
    nasch (profile), Jan 23rd, 2011 @ 2:07am

    Bad trend

    If each successive bill is worse than the last, and has a better chance of passing.... look out.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


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