What we need
Is the patent offices to do their jobs and block patents that are trying to patent prior art. Prior art is anything that has been publically disclosed anywhere whether on purpose or not, including papers, presentations, videos, other patents or patent applications (and applications are published by the patent offices 6 months after the applications are filed).
I have to deal with IP issues as part of my job and it's amazing how many patents are of things that should have been rejected due to the prior art. We just file that all away in case the patent that came to our attention comes knocking on our door. I recently had a EU patent germain to our products cross my desk that was of something patented in 1979 and expired in the late '90's. Neither the "inventors" nor the EU patent office bothered to look that far back I guess. But the Korean patent office did, and bounced it as they should have.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
