Monday, May 08, 2006
Peer review patents
Copyright, trademarks, and patents are ways that the government regulates information. In order to tackle the huge backlog of patent applications, the US Patent and Trademark Office will be launching a pilot of a public "peer review" patent system. The goal of the project is "to ensure that patent examiners will have improved access to all available prior art during the patent examination process." There's more here and here. [Via BoingBoing.] If I understand the concept correctly, it's ingenious. I can't wait to see how it works out.
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It does seem like a major change in the way patents are granted. I never thought of peer review, which underpins scholarly communication, applying to protection of intellectual property this way. But if it works, I'd love to see the idea of peer review be more wide-spread.
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