Begin forwarded message: From: Wendy Seltzer <wendy@xxxxxxx> Date: July 20, 2004 5:01:01 AM EDT To: David Farber <dave@xxxxxxxxxx> Cc: jason@xxxxxxx Subject: Re: [IP] Tough road for patent-busters Hi Dave,You circulated an AP article on EFF's patent-busting campaign, <http://www.eff.org/patent/>, that used some misleading statistics on the re-examination process. Compared with the number of re-exam requests filed, we think the past success rate for the procedure is pretty good:
From: Jason Schultz <jason@xxxxxxx> Statistics from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) show that 90 percent of reexamination requests are granted. They also show that 72 percent of granted requests result in either revocation or narrowing of patent claims. I'd say this gives EFF fairly good odds in our campaign, especially with all the help we're receiving from pro bono patent attorneys, volunteer prior art searchers, and the public.<http://research.yale.edu/lawmeme/yjolt/modules.php? name=News&file=article&sid=2><http://econwpa.wustl.edu:8089/eps/io/papers/0303/0303009.pdf>
I'd also note that while Acacia is now targeting big broadcasters, it earned its place on our most-wanted list for targeting small companies, many of whom couldn't defend themselves.
Thanks. --Wendy
Subject: [IP] Tough road for patent-bustershttp://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/biztech/07/16/busting.patents.ap/ index.htmlTough road for patent-busters SAN JOSE, California (AP) -- A small company called Acacia ResearchCorp. went after some of the biggest names in broadcasting last month,suing nine companies for an estimated $100 million for allegedlyviolating its patent on streaming video. That earned Acacia a spot on what the Electronic Frontier Foundationconsiders a top 10 list of intellectual property ignominy: patents theonline civil liberties group is seeking to strike down as unwarrantedand harmful to innovation. "Good luck," said Paul Ryan, Acacia's chief executive. "Their chancesare pretty remote." Part fighting words. Part truth. Only 614 of the nearly 7 million existing patents have been revoked,according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Some 3,927 patentshave been narrowed since the agency began conducting re-examinations in1981.
-- Wendy Seltzer -- wendy@xxxxxxxxxxx || wendy@xxxxxxx phone: 415.436.9333 x 125 // cell: 914.374.0613 // fax: 415.436.9993 Staff Attorney, Electronic Frontier Foundation Fellow, Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/seltzer.html Chilling Effects: http://www.chillingeffects.org/ ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as roessler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/