|
|
Posted by D Sherman on Monday, November 03, 2008 at 23:48:48 :
In Reply to: compared to most companies out there posted by mannyc on Monday, November 03, 2008 at 15:26:36 :
I don't really disagree. I still use ebay, though more for buying than for selling now. I've had some bad experiences, but nothing that did me permanent damage. I would just like to see some real competition.
As far as obvious inventions go, I have 5 patents myself, and in my opinion 3 of them were obvious, 2 were truly useful, and only 1 was really clever. But when you work for a big company and they get in the mood to patent things (which happens in cycles), they go crazy and patent everything imaginable.
Government patent examiners are overworked and underpaid, and when they have high-priced corporate IP lawyers breathing down their necks, they tend to just grant the patent even though they don't really think it's novel or non-obvious, figuring the parties involved can thrash it out in court. The trouble with that is a small company can't afford to fight any sort of legal fight against a big one, and it's the big ones that have the unjustified patents.
Follow Ups: