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AP - Microsoft Corp. said Thursday its fiscal second-quarter profit fell 28 percent, as delays from the launch of its new version of Windows cut into holiday-quarter revenue.
. Need help finding more information? if Two People Invent The Same Thing At The Same Time, Should One Get A Patent For quite a long time, we’ve argued that one of the problems with the patent system is that it goes way overboard in providing rights to whoever came up with an idea first, even if others independently developed the same idea. That’s lead some to suggest that patents should have an “independent invention” defense. After all, the patent system is designed specifically to encourage innovation where it might not occur otherwise (basically, assuming that there’s market failure for innovation). If multiple people are coming up with the product simultaneously, that suggests (1) that there’s demand in the market providing plenty of incentive for innovation and (2) the idea is not particularly non-obvious (as a patented concept must be).
Noel Le points us to some recent research on the topic including one by Mark Lemley and another by Samson Vermont (warning: pdf). The good news is that it’s clear that more than a few people are thinking about this very issue. Vermont’s piece also has a compelling response to the claim (usually from patent attorneys) that adding in an “independent invention” defense would simply lead to lies from people claiming to have invented a product independently. Vermont explains why there’s little evidence to support that, given that with the system today, someone would get even greater benefit in falsifying a claim of “first to invent,” and yet it’s rarely seen. There are tremendous penalties associated with fraud and perjury (which lying about an invention would amount to), and that (plus moral issues) seem to make that argument less of an issue.
Unfortunately, it appears that Le completely misreads Lemley’s article in his writeup about it. He positions Lemley’s piece to be arguing against the “independent invention” defense, when if you read the paper, that’s not the case at all. Lemley is clearly compelled by it, but just notes that rushing to put it in place without some limitations could create problems — mainly due to legacy issues. His argument isn’t (as Le claims) that adding such a defense would “reduce incentives to innovate and impose inefficiency on the market for patents.” Rather, Lemley points out that Vermont’s push for an independent invention defense is based on a few assumptions, and if they are wrong, then it could present problems. However, Lemley doesn’t seem to be saying that those assumptions are wrong — just that if an independent invention defense is implemented, it should be done in a way that carefully watches to see if the assumptions hold up (in fact, Lemley seems to agree that Vermont’s assumptions may be true). Also, there is an important point that Lemley makes, that we’ve been suggesting for years. You may not even need an independent invention defense, if you had a better “obviousness” test for patents. The fact that two totally separate entities came up with the same idea, that certainly suggests that the idea had some element of obviousness to it, and was the general progression in the space. In that case, there’s no real policy reason to support that patents be given, since the incentives are already put in place by the market. It’s good to see that these issues are getting a serious discussion in some areas — though, whether or not these discussions will ever actually influence policy is another question completely.Did you know that Thing means the result of work or activity: is always building things.. I have this floating around somewhere uS chides ally Egypt over conviction of student blogger
(AFP)
AFP - The United States chided its key Middle East ally Egypt on Thursday over the treatment of a student blogger jailed for making online statements deemed insulting to religion and the president.
.Did you know that Student means an attentive observer: a student of world affairs.. I also noted that; widgets For Your Actual Desktop
(PC Magazine) PC Magazine - The Linux-powered WidgetStation from EmTrace pulls widgets out of your PC.Did you know that Magazine means any of various compartments attached to machines, used for storing or supplying necessary material.
AFP - US coumputer maker Dell Inc unveiled a low-cost coumputer Wednesday which it said was specifically designed for the Chinese market and could help large numbers of novices get online.
