[Fsfe-ie] US Congress to Overhaul Patent Law

[Ciaran O'Riordan]

Malcolm Tyrrell <malcoh0l at yahoo.ie> writes:
> "One wholly new measure already in use abroad is post-grant opposition
> proceedings to keep contested cases before administrative law judges
> and out of federal district court."

This sounds like the stunt we're expecting in the Community Patent
directive:

 If software patents go to court in the EU, the patent holder is likely to
 lose their patent.  If the pro-software-patent camp can't get legislation
 changed, they need a different way to give validity to their patents.
 Enter the Patent Appeals SuperBoard.  Such would be filled with experienced
 experts (i.e. ex-EPO staffers), so it's verdicts would surely just backup
 the doings of the EPO.  This would make real (court-based) patent appeals
 more difficult ("Aw, c'mon, the SuperMegaBoard said I could have this").

-- 
Ciarán O'Riordan,                               |  Support FSFE's work against
http://www.compsoc.com/~coriordan/              | software patents by becoming
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