Today, a jury awarded Alcatel-Lucent $367.4 million for infringing on two patents. These two patents, one for handwriting recognition on Microsoft’s tablet PC interface, and another for the way Outlook programs select calendar dates from a menu, represent what I call a fundamental flaw in the patent law process and the overview, administration, and technical merit of patent law. And where did the court find twelve people well-versed enough in software development and patent infringement to make a decision on such technical aspects?
First of all, let’s take the calendar date issue. What happens is a small calendar pops up and you then choose a date. If Alcatel-Lucent patented this interface, I suppose I should have done the same back in 1987 when I wrote a similar interface for a custom application I was contracted to design. The point is, it’s a CALENDAR! Who owns the patent (or worse, the copyright) on the Gregorian calendar, or the method in which it is used? What about the algorithm used to calculate dates, Easter, leap years, or Daylight Savings Time? It’s not that I’m a huge fan of Microsoft or an opponent of Alcatel-Lucent; I’m neither. But to see items like this make me wonder where the patent issue stops.
Tort reform is something our next administration will eventually have to consider. This cannot be a matter done from the bottom-up with the states; it has to be addressed from the top in the federal courts. If not, then tort reform is essentially meaningless as trials would only move to the non-reformed states.
I sincerely hope Senator Obama will consider this during his administration.
Comments are closed for this post.
