Microsoft Patents 'IsNot'

[Andrew Koenig]

"Steve Holden" <steve at holdenweb.com> wrote in message 
news:b8ynd.1301$QR.263 at lakeread01...

> I seriously wonder how long the US Patent Office is prepared to continue 
> making an ass of itself.

I do not know if this is still true, but I heard a number of years ago that 
the US Patent office, in response to Congress denying their request for more 
funding for patent examiners, combined with court rulings that require them 
to accept software patents, decided to accept any software patent that is 
filed.

Of course, such acceptance does not guarantee that the patent is worth 
anything.  What happens instead is that if there is an infringement case, 
the defendant has the opportunity to claim that the patent is invalid, 
either because it is obvious or because there is prior art.

So in effect the Patent Office is shifting their financial burden onto the 
shoulders of prospective defendants.