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Wednesday, March 01, 2006

WSJ: "Blame the Lawyers".

See Mr. J. Matthew Buchanan's

Blog "promote the progress":

"[...] Today's edition of the Wall Street Journal includes an op-ed piece on the current state of patent law, entitled 'Patently Absurd.'

[...]

The article is an attack on all things patent. Don't worry, though. The Editors have determined the source of the problem - the lawyers.

Yep. It's all our fault.

Patent Trolls? Yep...our fault. The article has a clever description of the so-called patent troll problem that avoids use of the 'T' word while asserting a simple and disturibing message: small patent holders who don't commercialize their inventions don't deserve injunctive relief or even monetary damages when their patents are infringed. Their patent infringement lawsuits are 'dubious,' apparently simply because of their small size and lack of commercialization. This is a strong, anti-property rights position taken by the Journal that, sadly, comes as no surprise considering previous Journal articles regarding so-called trolls. [...]"

Mr. Buchanan comments:

"[...] What the article fails to mention is that lawyers, being the clever innovators that we are, have played a driving role in the current patent reform movement. The American Intellectual Property Law Association (largely a professional society for IP lawyers) played a key role in drafting the Patent Act of 2005, which the Journal article called "useful." Sure we have differing opinions on the need for reform and the structure of some proposals, but we, the lawyers, have played an important role in advancing the debate on an amazingly broad spectrum of sweeping changes to the law. As the magnifying glass has turned onto our corner of the law, we have not shyed away. Rather, we have grabbed the handle and helped with the review. Introspection is always difficult, but I believe we can be proud of our efforts thus far, despite the uninformed criticisms of others."

There seems to be nothing to add.

[UPDATE] 2006-03-02 Nothing to add? Uh, er, perhaps

this,

that, and

here.

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