Bezos and O’Reilly on Patent Reform
Jeff Bezos, in 2000 (via Kyle Baxter):
If done right—and it could take 2 years or more—we’ll end up with a patent system that produces fewer patents (fewer people will bother to apply for 3 or 5 year patents, and fewer patents means less work for the overworked Patent and Trademark Office), fewer bad patents (because of the pre-issuance comment period), and even the good patents won’t last longer than is necessary to give the innovator a reasonable return (at Internet speed, you don’t need 17 years).
See also Lukas Mathis’ list.
