A few months ago I spoke with the director of the EFF effort on “peer-to-patents,” which is an experiment, funded mainly by IBM, to subject a few patent applications to public, wiki-based scrutiny. I suggested maybe I might put one of my applications through the project. With care for me, and perhaps excess candor, she said,
“Look, I love IBM, and they support our project. But let’s not be confused about their motives. They are going to use this process to look good. The two or three patents they put forward will have been scrubbed by hundreds of lawyers. The result is going to show that IBM, at least, files for “high quality patents.” In addition, remember that IBM files for 3000 new patents each year, so they are putting forward one one-thousandth of this year’s applications. Even if these applications are delayed or fail to be granted, IBM has risked nothing. By contrast, if a small company or an individual puts one up–perhaps her or his only application–the risk is enormous.”
Just to emphasize the point, in addition, the individual or small company will not have the resources to stack the deck in the manner IBM will, with advanced screening and study of any patents proposed to be submitted.
