{"id":16503,"date":"2012-09-18T07:43:46","date_gmt":"2012-09-18T07:43:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/legaladvantage.net\/?p=16503"},"modified":"2026-02-04T17:41:55","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T17:41:55","slug":"spurious-patents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legaladvantage.net\/2012\/09\/spurious-patents\/","title":{"rendered":"Spurious Patents"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"16503\" class=\"elementor elementor-16503\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6b09bceb e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"6b09bceb\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-a9859f3 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"a9859f3\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-xl\">Spurious Patents\n<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-42dd5e5 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"42dd5e5\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Many people bemoan the state of today\u2019s patent system. Backlogs in examination have grown to amazing dimensions. In 2011 the number of US applications awaiting examination was reported as being just under 700,000. Why does this happen?<\/p><p>Part of the answer seems to be the ease with which one can obtain a patent. Inventors embark on the application process knowing that they will meet with little resistance from examiners. Some examiners are, no doubt, more compliant than others, but, often, the experience is relatively painless.<\/p><p>The backlog has reached Borgesian proportions, and it feeds on itself: The patent examiner has less time to review more applications. Reviews become less rigorous. The easier the application process becomes, the more inventors apply.<\/p><p>\u2013 Beth Simone Noveck Formerly U.S. deputy chief technology officer for open government<\/p><p>There is a patent, issued by the USPTO in 2000, for making toast. There can be no doubt that toast was invented long before 2000; I distinctly remember eating it before then. Let\u2019s simply agree that it was invented long ago by some forgotten genius.<\/p><p>We did not wish to be too quick in singling out this particular patent; rash evaluations are not helpful, so our team reviewed it carefully, giving the inventor, the attorney, and the examiner the benefit of doubt. Was there anything new there? Anything that warranted a patent?<\/p><p>Friends, it\u2019s toast, it\u2019s just toast. And so are we, unless we do something to fix this problem.<\/p><p>The ongoing patent reform is a ray of hope for us all in the IP community.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Spurious Patents Many people bemoan the state of today\u2019s patent system. Backlogs in examination have grown to amazing dimensions. In 2011 the number of US applications awaiting examination was reported as being just under 700,000. Why does this happen? Part of the answer seems to be the ease with which one can obtain a patent. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Spurious Patents - Legal Advantage<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/legaladvantage.net\/2012\/09\/spurious-patents\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Spurious Patents - Legal Advantage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Spurious Patents Many people bemoan the state of today\u2019s patent system. Backlogs in examination have grown to amazing dimensions. In 2011 the number of US applications awaiting examination was reported as being just under 700,000. Why does this happen? Part of the answer seems to be the ease with which one can obtain a patent. 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