IBM to Put Patent Apps Online
As we keep an eye on geo patents here, this is pretty interesting. IBM will put its patent apps online for all to review (New York Times, free registration). The hope is that in time other organizations will do the same, even as there are moves to revamp the U.S. petent process. The policy is more that just a “put it out there” statement. It has more:
The policy, being announced today, includes standards like clearly identifying the corporate ownership of patents, to avoid filings that cloak authorship under the name of an individual or dummy company. It also asserts that so-called business methods alone — broad descriptions of ideas, without technical specifics — should not be patentable.
Sounds good to me! Now, let’s get real: we, and others who care, need to be diligent about keeping an eye on these filings. Otherwise we may end up with patents on Web mapping, using maps to find selected real estate, moving GPS data to GIS… oh, right those patents already exist! (wink, wink)
