From: Lloyd Spear <[log in to unmask]>

>1.  To others in the world, particularily Europeans, our patent office is a joke.  

yes...but there is a downside to both approaches.  on the one hand, i think that a court of law where two sides are both fighting for their own interests is a process that is more likely to arrive at "truth" than someone applying for a patent working back and forth with a government employee.  imagine you are accused of a crime...would you want the prosecutor and the judge to work together to decide if you are guilty, or would you like to be able to present your case to the judge as well?  uncover mistakes the prosecutor might make?  expose corruption in the system?  this kind of adversarial system much going for it, but it's far from perfect.

on the other hand, it would be nice (especially for the small time entrepreneur) if the thousands of dollars spent in obtaining a patent put the holder in a position of power, rather than a defensive (and possibly very expensive) position in relation to a large company with legal and financial resources, but no patent.  personally, i don't think our government is up to the task of acting as an impartial and fair determiner of what is and isn't patentable...our courts do a much better job, imho.

of course, if we are in a situation where pollen supplements must be used due to contamination of real pollen, and the supplements are patented, we will be required to do business with the patent holders, or be in a position of being sued.

deknow

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