EFF Busts Another Bogus Patent

Legal Issues

from the thank-you! dept

Three years ago, the EFF set out to bust some bogus patents, filing claims of prior art to the patent office on a list of 10 “Most Wanted” bogus patents. While it’s slow going (thank you USPTO!), the folks over at the EFF appear to be making progress. They succeeded last summer in getting the patent office to re-examine a patent on online test-taking, but they had an even bigger win last week. While we missed the news when it first came out, Slashdot points out that the USPTO has revoked Clear Channel’s bogus patent on making quick recordings of live concerts. This took over a year, since the EFF first showed the Patent Office some prior art, suggesting just how long this process takes (also, it’s not clear from the EFF’s press release if this is a final revoking of the patent, or if we’ll now have to wait for the lengthy appeals process as well). Of course, what’s not explained is how the USPTO allowed this patent to be granted in the first place. While it’s great that the USPTO has busted the patent, that’s not much comfort to the bands that were bullied over the patent for daring to offer their fans immediate recordings of concerts.