Saturday 6 March 2004

Conflict of Interest

Mike Sax: Patents & Offshoring: Did you know that the USPTO has to be completely self-funded (it can't rely on your tax dollars), but a percentage of patent application fees is diverted to other, unrelated agencies by the US Congress?  And did you know that the US Congress, not the USPTO determines what application fees are?

Surely this is a massive conflict of interest: the patent office is paid by the people seeking patents. If the patent office want more income, they have to get it by processing more patent applications in less time.

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