Heads up: Israel software patents

[geoffrey mendelson]

On Jan 9, 2010, at 4:29 PM, Shlomi Fish wrote:
>
> Really...

I'm not going to post it publicly, but I know several cases where  
Israeli firms came up with a new way of doing something, which would  
have been patentable but did not. They put together a poorly worded  
English website, advertised their business on a few local lists,  
including their one unique thing. Within weeks every company in the  
business was doing it, and what they had is no longer unique, nor is  
their company able to compete.

They were on the fast track to being another one of the 75% of the  
startups that fail in the first year.

If they had filed an Israeli patent application, Israeli companies  
would have not copied them, and if they had filed a US provisional  
patent application, which almost anyone can write with a few days of  
research and file for $100, they would have been covered. Announcing  
their technology as "patent pending" usually convinces other companies  
from copying it directly, of at all.

>
> What makes you think an Israeli patent would be valid in the USA?  
> That's like
> a mouse challenging an elephant. And it may open the gates for many  
> USA
> companies suing Israeli software companies for damages on patent  
> grounds for
> patents files in the USA or Israel, and many Israeli companies be  
> fearful of
> patents. See:
>

Look up patent cooperation treaty, aka worldwide patent. You file a  
patent application in any PCT country and then you a certain amount of  
time (1 year to 18 months depending upon the country) to file PCT  
applications in other countries. Since every country in the world  
accepts PCT applications in English, it's best to file in the US. When  
you get the US patent, you send a copy of the approval letter and some  
other paperwork to the countries you filed a PCT application. The  
patent office that receives the PCT application then issues you a  
patent automaticaly.

Since Israel and the US both signed the PCT, you can file in the US  
and then file a PCT application in Israel, or vice versa.


> http://www.forbes.com/asap/2002/0624/044.html

Doesn't say very much does it? Mostly that the US patent system is  
broken, I'm a lawyer, hire me and I'll save your ass. Lots of articles  
like it in the Jerusaelm Post business section. I have no idea of how  
many are in Forbes, I never read it.


>>
>> IMHO your time would be better spent not fighting software patents
>> totally, as that would go against what they want. If you present
>> arguments of what is wrong with the US system and how a better, saner
>> implementation can be accomplished, they may just decide it's too  
>> much
>> effort and expense.
>
> Who will and why? I am unable to parse this last sentence of yours.


All of the complaints, including the Forbes article you mentioned say  
that the US patent system is broken. Some people want to fix it, some  
people want to abandon it for software, some people want to abandon it  
entirely.

Some else posted a link to a book which I read the free posted chapter  
but would not buy the book. They claimed the patent system itself was  
ok, but judicial system behind it for settiling disputes was broken,  
so the whole thing should be scrapped. The reason I did not buy the  
book was because it was protected by copyright, and I was not prepared  
to pay them $30 for their protected ideas to read why my ideas should  
not be protected.

What I was trying to suggest was that if you don't think the US system  
is any good, it would IMHO be better to present the Israeli Patent  
Office with arguments how to make their system work and of value.  
Saying the US system is broken and therefore Israel should not have  
one is a waste of time as far as I am concerend.

Geoff.

-- 
geoffrey mendelson N3OWJ/4X1GM
Jerusalem Israel geoffreymendelson at gmail.com
New word I coined 12/13/09, "Sub-Wikipedia" adj, describing knowledge  
or understanding, as in he has a sub-wikipedia understanding of the  
situation. i.e possessing less facts or information than can be found  
in the Wikipedia.