The Association of Government Accountants (formerly the “Federal Government Accountants Association”) has awarded the US Patent and Trademark Office its “Fiscal Year 2007 Performance and Accountability Report Award” (which looks oddly similar to the USPTO’s own “red ribbon” patent grant)–one of 17 federal agencies to get this award that year.
Not only does the USPTO prepare “a well structured, logically organized and easy-to-navigate report”–it’s very “productive” too. As it boasts on its website,
Highlights of USPTO accomplishments for the past year include … Increased patent production by an additional 14 percent over 2007 by examining 448,003 applications–the highest number in our history. Production has increased by 38.6 percent over the past four years, compared to a 21.3 percent increase in application filings during the same period.
It’s sobering to think how much worse off the US would be in this recession without all this productivity.
For some more interesting patent statistics, see the World Patent Report: A Statistical Review (2008)–for example, as of about 2006, there were about two million patent applications filed per years worldwide; about 750,000 patents issued (granted) every year; and about 6.1 million patents in force around the world.
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Is the award significant if 17 are granted?
It’s an award for the production of a thicket that will continue to hobble the progress of technology and productivity and even civilization itself for many generations in the future. This patent explosion is the opposite of progress; it is a symptom of stagnation and rising mercantilism. It is a war against a pillar of economic expansion: the ability from capitalists to learn from each other to make ever better and cheaper products.
This is government rewarding government for smashing freecom and opportunity and the quality of our lives.
Association of Government Accountants!
Which one of these government accountants has the responsibility to make sure their budget is balanced? Surely if there is a discrepancy it is reported.
How is debt reported and to who? Are these accountants aware that the government is of the people, by the people, and for the people?
If so, how do they get the information to the people?
If not, why are these accountants as ignorant as the politicians about the sworn oath of members of Congress?
One of this year’s winners: The US Patent and Trademark Office is awarded Fiscal Year 2007 “Bureaucratic Bogging Down Award.”
Whenever I hear a story about government and accountants, the following comes to mind:
http://ru.youtube.com/watch?v=WF4IViNVgkQ&NR=1
Want to play ‘because of”/’in spite of’? Well back in ye olde times there wasn’t much I.P. protection so why didn’t technology take off in ye olde times? Likewise why hasn’t technology stagnated in the last hundred or so years? Why does Wiki’s graph of number of patents issued appeared to nicely coincide with the rate of technology growth? Dang it when ‘in spite of’ shows a nice correlation/causation consistent with ‘because of’.
Anyway, congratulations to those of you who correctly guessed how I would respond to this IP-related post! The correct answer is, “Yeah, Stephan_Kinsella, and I wonder what we’ll find at the land/car/boat title office…”
Gil, I think I understand what you are suggesting. It is a bit like suggesting that wet sidewalks cause it to rain.
Patents increase during periods of technological expansion simply because they are there for the taking, and many people take them to protect themselves against others who would grab a patent a file suit. It is a massive game, and a wicked one that shuts down development of technology. Note that the early years of the web were patent-free, and hence development was fast and phenomenal. Then the big market players got into the patent act and development has slowed to a crawl. This type of thing has been happening in fits and starts since the industrial revolution.
Jeffrey:
You say that development has slowed to a crawl, and yet all I see is faster and faster development in cars, transmissions, engines, and an array of other technologies. I recently read that mankind would generate more knowledge in the next two years than was generated in all of recorded history. I also read that the rate of technology advancement has continued to accelerate at an exponential pace. Crawl? Perhaps I do not understand the definition of “crawling.”
What L. E. Holder said. Apparently your & friends’ definition of technology stagnation must be more liberal than mine. Besides how many here extol the virtues of smoking because correlation does not equal causation?
sadly, as part of our “free-trade” deal with the us, australia got saddled with an extra 20 years of copyright protection to bring us into conformity with your code.
the deal also has as one of its objectives a greater alignment in patent procedures, and the restriction of parallel imports.
funnily enough, there’s a surprisingly negative paper about this deal, and ip in general , on the website of the australian parliamentary library (http://www.aph.gov.au/Library/Pubs/rp/2003-04/04rp14.htm), coinciding with the pact’s signing.
we got shafted royally by mickey mouse whilst the “liberal” party looked on.
on the other hand, who ever heard of the a.g.a? sounds like the razzies award.
to gil:
the question you mean to ask is – how many here extol statute law regulating smoking?
Nope. What I supposed was some here could feel good about smoking as they’d argue correlation doesn’t equal causation and could use the anecdote of someone who smoked all their life and died in their sleep at an old age as proof that smoking doesn’t cause any respiratory illnesses.
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