Patently Stupid

The Public Patent Foundation has managed to force a re-examination of the patent granted to Forgent for the JPEG international image compression standard.

This is good news, but it needs to be taken one step further. The frivolous "patent grazing" that has become more common in the computer industry over the past few years needs to be slapped down hard. It's nothing more than a welfare system for corporate lawyers, and it often causes untold harm to honest private enterprise and the economy in general. It amounts to simple extortion--and that's a crime.

Unfortunately, I can see no way to enforce such punishment, as the real root of the problem is either ignorance or complicity--or some unholy combination of the two--within the U.S. Patent Office and its supporting court system. As such, any attempt at reformation and/or retribution would have be directed at that entity before any action could be taken against the obviously greed-driven and ethically bankrupt people who file for such patents.

Bureaucrats: can't live with 'em, can't chop them up with a stolen fire axe, wrap their remains in acetone-soaked polyethylene sheeting and bury them at separate places in various parts o--- Erm. Ah, I mean... Well, perhaps I shouldn't say any more.