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[FYI] U.S.: The Expansion of the Patent System: Politics and Political Economy



http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue6_1/kahin/

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The Expansion of the Patent System:
Politics and Political Economy

By Brian Kahin

Over the past twenty years, the jurisdiction of the patent system has 
expanded to cover software and business practices. This expansion 
continues to elicit concerns about quality, but the quality problem 
is symptomatic of institutional problems. Captured by the patent 
community, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has adopted an 
expansionist philosophy and devalued the examination process. This 
philosophy, along with the expansionist decisions of the specialized 
Court of the Appeals for the Federal Circuit, is dramatically at odds 
with the principles of the Clinton Administration's initiative on 
global electronic commerce.  

[...]

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