{"id":1044,"date":"2017-01-18T15:09:26","date_gmt":"2017-01-18T23:09:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/?p=1044"},"modified":"2017-01-18T15:09:26","modified_gmt":"2017-01-18T23:09:26","slug":"continuing-advances-in-patent-quality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2017\/01\/18\/continuing-advances-in-patent-quality\/","title":{"rendered":"Continuing Advances in Patent Quality"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1052 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/files\/2017\/01\/Patent-600x223.png\" alt=\"Patent maths\" width=\"600\" height=\"223\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/files\/2017\/01\/Patent-600x223.png 600w, https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/files\/2017\/01\/Patent-300x112.png 300w, https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/files\/2017\/01\/Patent-768x286.png 768w, https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/files\/2017\/01\/Patent-1000x372.png 1000w, https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/files\/2017\/01\/Patent.png 1537w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As we have previously written, long term patent terms impede the short innovation cycle and continuous iteration of software development. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2015\/04\/15\/open-source-software-and-the-patent-system\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Innovation is harmed by overbroad software patents<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that cover large swaths of general activity and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2016\/01\/22\/addressing-the-chilling-effect-of-patent-damages\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">create uncertainty as to litigation<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. That\u2019s why <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/files\/2017\/01\/01.18.2017-Mozilla-written-comments-re-Subject-Matter-Eligibility-to-USPTO-signed.pdf\">Mozilla submitted written comments today<\/a> to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office explaining our belief that recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings on what is eligible for patent protection have resulted in improvements to patent quality.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Two years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/13pdf\/13-298_7lh8.pdf\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Alice Corp. Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank International<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that patent claims that merely require generic computer implementation of abstract ideas are not patentable inventions. This was an important step towards mitigating the negative effects that overbroad and poorly written software patents have had for software developers,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and the Internet as a whole. As a result, other federal courts have invalidated many other broad and abstract software patents, and the USPTO has made efforts to better incorporate subject matter eligibility in their examination procedures. Companies have also improved the quality of their patent applications and are more selective in filing applications. Our USPTO comments reaffirmed our belief that<\/span> <i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Alice<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has had a positive effect on the industry and should continue to be integrated into USPTO procedures and case law. We believe this would be disrupted if Congress were to prematurely intervene by altering or rolling back court rulings on patent subject matter eligibility.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our mission and work let us see first-hand how patents affect software development and innovation on the Open Web &#8212; from the software we write and ship, to our participation and collaboration on open standards. What\u2019s more, our non-profit roots put us in a unique position to talk openly and candidly about patents. We are glad for the opportunity to provide this direct feedback to the USPTO on this very important subject for software developers, and open source projects everywhere.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As we have previously written, long term patent terms impede the short innovation cycle and continuous iteration of software development. Innovation is harmed by overbroad software patents that cover large &hellip; <a class=\"go\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2017\/01\/18\/continuing-advances-in-patent-quality\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1282,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46878],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Continuing Advances in Patent Quality - Open Policy &amp; Advocacy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2017\/01\/18\/continuing-advances-in-patent-quality\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elvin Lee\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2017\/01\/18\/continuing-advances-in-patent-quality\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2017\/01\/18\/continuing-advances-in-patent-quality\/\",\"name\":\"Continuing Advances in Patent Quality - Open Policy &amp; 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