Perhaps having swarms of people with relevant experience review incoming patent applications would be helpful, at least in terms of prior art. Make the patent system more like Wikipedia, in other words.
Examiners retain their skills and usefulness, but now have large numbers of people available for add'l brain mass. Part of their job would now involve guiding, editing, and otherwise overseeing the function of the patent-review swarm. As with Wikipedia, I would expect to see groupings consisting of "the usual suspects" for a given topic.
I can see lots of flaws in this model, but I also think that it wouldn't be any worse, and offers the potential to keep patents unique and the system functioning at top speed.
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invent this joke
"...wrecked 'em? The lawsuit nearly *killed* them!"
Ad-hoc hive minds to the rescue
Perhaps having swarms of people with relevant experience review incoming patent applications would be helpful, at least in terms of prior art. Make the patent system more like Wikipedia, in other words.
Examiners retain their skills and usefulness, but now have large numbers of people available for add'l brain mass. Part of their job would now involve guiding, editing, and otherwise overseeing the function of the patent-review swarm. As with Wikipedia, I would expect to see groupings consisting of "the usual suspects" for a given topic.
I can see lots of flaws in this model, but I also think that it wouldn't be any worse, and offers the potential to keep patents unique and the system functioning at top speed.