Has the U.S. Patent Office really reformed?
• http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/200103/msg00075.html • > Exporting American “Innovation” Abroad > > While the U.S. PTO struggles to reform its examining procedures, and > members of Congress propose potential solutions (such as the Business > Method Patent Improvements Act of 2000), at least one other branch of > the U.S. government — the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative — > appears to have been laboring to ensure that other nations adopt the > controversial American practice of granting patents to business > methods. (USTR is the federal agency charged with negotiating and > enforcing America’s trade positions with other nations.) > > For instance, consider the following excerpt from a October 24, 2000 > Memorandum of Understanding “on Issues Related to the Protection of > Intellectual Property Rights Under the Agreement Between the United > States and Jordan on the Establishment of a Free Trade Area”: • The Business Method Patent: The Uproar R
