Patent Law

Quality

By Gary Odom and Jordan Kuhn

IBM's David Kappos, touted as a possible USPTO Director, testified in March before the Senate Judiciary Committee: "We believe the quality of patents issued in the U.S. has diminished, and that the substantial improvements needed to address this quality crisis are not possible without Congressional action." IBM appears to be doing its part in reducing patent quality. Its 2009/0119,148 application for "enhancing productivity" claims "1. A method including: defining, by a user, a time template including a plurality of predefined time intervals for scheduling meetings; and applying the time template across a collaborative system." In a nutshell: shorter hours to facilitate shorter meetings.

Lower productivity versions of the story: The Register; IPWatchdogg.

Full post as published by The Patent Prospector on May 12, 2009 (boomark / email).