Continued
Inventor A said:
“D.) The stages that are to then follow… become increasingly ambiguous, as well as costly - and, you’re constantly reminded that most of the actual “control” is in the hands of the USPTO’s “Primary Examiner” who was assigned to your case (with whom you’re not to correspond).
E.) The Lawyer & PTO then start you paying (on a regular basis) for a process... which is to remain forever-undefined, (but conveniently changes) on what seems to be a daily basis [… the outcome of which, they (singularly) claim to have, no ultimate direct control].
F.) The client is then stalled for undeterminable amounts of time for - expensive, frequently wasted - "Office Actions” that all too often become hopelessly convoluted by “the powers that be”. Does, a(deliberately contorted, and ever-changing) set of rules, set in a foreign language [...Patentese] - fully offer the true inventor all of their unquestionable rights - to “Due Process”? PTO processes (which can take years to complete), involve a game of “legalistic - Cat & Mouse” or, more simply defined, a game of - foreign language “Give & Take” whereby, your invention is typically redefined by an array of people, many of whose salaries are paid (although indirectly) by the very corporate entities that will be stealing it.
G.) Apparently - perpetrated by a rogue system that benefits [itself], by overcomplicating all that which should otherwise be simple in our opinion”
Getting a patent is an expensive process, when done through an agent/attorney/law firm. And the 'control' is in the hands of the USPTO. Examiners are extremely pressed-for-time, and to my knowledge do their best to review art and render office actions against a patent application. The Office Actions issued are not always correct, but not because of corruption, but rather an imperfect system. The system is not undefined. Just because you don't understand the 'patentese' doesn't mean it is not valid. The English language is vague and ambiguous in itself. The Patent Laws that attempt to put forth an unambiguous guide for what it takes to get and enforce a patentis no different than ANY OTHER area of law.
This is because the United States begins with the premise that you have unlimited rights except what is limited by the government (rather than you have no rights except what is specifically granted). In any event, the law must attempt to account for many/most conceivable situations in order to cover such situations. In doing this, the wording of the laws must attempt to be unambiguous, and cover the various situations that COULD occur. This requires lengthy legal code, often awkwardly worded to accomplish that purpose. It may SEEM that the law is unambiguous, however, if you took the time with a good legal dictionary, and read through the law, the regulations, and the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP), and studied how the caselaw has interpreted the law, then you would understand the law. An imperfect system- not a broken system...
Attorneys, after attending undergraduate studies (and for registered patent attorneys, undergraduate studies requires studies in a scientific field such as chemistry, biology, engineering), attend law school. During three years of law school, the attorney learns the basics of law, legal interpretation, and a broad uderstanding of many legal concepts from many legal areas. This is again necessary, because even if the attorney doesn't practice in many/most of the other areas of law, they must understand at least in the basic sense how the other areas of law impact their practice area, and what implications that the advice they give from their practice area could be impacted by other areas of law. Then after these three years of study in law school, the attorney begins to practice, where it takes another 2-3 years (for Patent Prosecution) to become proficient. 2-3 years AFTER law school to learn the ropes under the guidance of more experienced attorneys, and delving into the patent laws, the patent regulations and MPEP, to better understand how to apply the law. But this is no different in the US than in many/most/all other countries of the world. What you consider to be ambiguous is not ambiguous, but rather just something you don't understand. Again, we live in an imperfect system, not a broken system. But lack of understanding of the system gives you no right to claim that the patent attorneys that work within the system are out to rip you off, steal your inventions, and just plain out to get you.
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Topic: Are Patents worth the paper they are written on? (Read 8970 times)
