TDCommons and the Future of Patent Law

An illustration of a patent figure for some Hello World generation

Paresh Dave in Wired writes about TDCommons.org, a Google funded but bepress operated site. The idea is to publish technical disclosures as prior art that might invalidate future patents. It's an interesting overview of the subject, including a USPTO attempt to do the same thing (I covered this here) and a commercial competitor, IP.Com. Apparently USPTO is looking for help with this problem:

"Google is hoping TDCommons has a chance to be embraced as Kathi Vidal, a tech patent attorney who was sworn in as director of the USPTO almost two years ago, settles into her role. Deciding that generative AI programs can’t be patent holders has been a higher priority, she says, but creating a better search tool for prior art is an issue she’s discussed with a lot of organizations. Vidal says she’s open to the USPTO administering and funding its own prior art repository, offering up her email, [email protected], for feedback on how to do so."

I'm not super-convinced that she's providing her actual email address, but when I have a few minutes I might suggest my own plan - issue all patent applications and shift the examination to the start of any litigation or enforcement attempt.

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(Published to the Fediverse as: TDCommons and the Future of Patent Law #politics #patents #uspto Prior art attempts like TDCommons, IP.com and even the USPTO's failed scheme should be replaced with a fundamental overhaul of the patent system. )

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