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Mike Masnick, unbundled

By Lawrence B. Ebert, Esq.

Mike Masnick took exception to some remarks in the IPBiz post, Dudas unbundled, by Mike [?]

Mike had posted at TechDirt:

With the USPTO approving tons of bad patents, and the courts all too often siding with the patent holder and expanding what's patentable, combined with people who have done nothing getting hundreds of millions just for holding a piece of paper, is it really any surprise that the incentive structure would push people to file for as many bogus patents as possible, in hopes of getting them through the obviously questionable process?

IPBiz notes that the National Academy of Sciences report on patents does NOT confirm what Mike says. The report of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS/STEP) did not actually find evidence of a decline in patent quality. Page 3 of the report states: "The claim that quality has deteriorated in a broad and systematic way could be, but has not been, empirically tested. Therefore, conclusions must remain tentative."

Thus, IPBiz asks Mike Masnick: where's your evidence? what do you know that the National Academy of Science doesn't know? What substance backs up your conclusory arguments?

Of Mike's I merely pointed out that they [Jaffe and Lerner] *ACCURATELY* pointed out that the USPTO was being overhwelmed [sic] with questionable patent apps. , IPBiz asks what evidence Jaffe and Lerner had that the "USPTO was being overwhelmed with questionable patent applications"?

On the subject of Jaffe and Lerner, the only case where Jaffe and Lerner worked through a prior art issue was on page 144, wherein they borrowed an example from Greg Aharonian. IPBiz asks Mike Masnick if he believes that example is accurate, or if Jaffe and Lerner merely demonstrated on page 144 that they don't know what prior art is, and thus don't know what a questionable application is at all?

IPBiz reminds readers that, about two years ago, Mike Masnick was raving about "new, peer-reviewed" work by Bessen which had been ignored in the patent community. When the Masnick foggy FUD had cleared, it became apparent that the work by
Bessen was not new, not peer-reviewed, and not ignored in the patent community. Hyperbole is a Masnick trademark (don't know if he goes after infringers; nobody really tops him, anyway). Curiously, his over-hyped, yet incrementalist, style is a microcosm of the IT positions he seeks to represent.

See also

Getting the Patent Reform Wars Back on Track

Patent Grant Rate Lower Than Many Academics Think

Do patents tend to harm inventors? Part 2.

Do patents tend to harm inventors?--part 3

of page 144 of Jaffe and Lerner

Inadvertent Argument Against Peer-to-Patent

Full post as published by IPBiz on April 22, 2008 (boomark / email).