Interesting article, one of many, which you can google or find in a yahoo search. U.S. patent review board becomes conservative target. Partial article below.
By Jan Wolfe
NEW YORK, Nov 20(Reuters) - In August, a dozen inventors gathered around a fire pit outside the headquarters of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria, Virginia, and set alight patents they said had been rendered worthless by an overreaching federal government.
"It's time for us to make patents great again," Michael Caputo, an advisor to Donald Trump's presidential campaign, told those gathered. US Inventor, the group behind the protest Caputo now represents as a spokesman, is calling for the abolition of the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board, an administrative tribunal run by the patent office that reviews the validity of patents.
The rallying cry marks an about-face for some conservatives, who broadly supported the board's creation in 2011 as a way to rein in trial lawyers and "patent trolls," who hold patents for the sole purpose of suing big companies for licensing fees.
"Things have really flipped when it comes to the conservative perspective on patents," said Charles Duan, a lawyer with left-leaning consumer group Public Knowledge.
Much of the credit goes to activists who have convinced many conservatives that the real problem is not out-of-control litigation but how the tribunal designed to speed up resolving patent disputes favors big business over smaller rivals.
The change of positions has been aided by deepening right-wing distrust of tech giants, such as Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google, which have benefited the most from PTAB while embracing liberal causes like immigration or gay and transgender rights. (Graphic: http://tmsnrt.rs/2A1LfXV)
The U.S. Supreme Court is due to rule sometime next year on whether the tribunal is an unconstitutional intrusion of the executive branch onto matters reserved for the courts and influential conservative groups are already weighing in.
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