Patent Reform or Patent Reversal?

I wonder if the "first to file" proposal will mean that whoever has the money to patent an invention will be able to patent something already in production but not patented. This sounds like a nightmare for small businesses and individuals who already can't in many cases afford to patent an invention.

Having a patent is really worthless ( unless you're an attorney or large company and then it's a goldmine) , so I think the changes are only going to make things worse for everyone but the attorneys and large companies.

If you doubt the worthlessness of a patent, go to the local Home Depot and look at the ladder aisle. The Little Giant ladder ( a great product, I own one) is covered with patent numbers. Now go a little further down the aisle and you will see at least 2 identical cheap knock offs. I assume they are also patented. And if you go to Wal Mart you can find a third. Every one of these companies paid some shyster lawyer tens of thousands of dollars to patent their product. So now if they don't like the fact that there are a half dozen identical products, they can go to court and have a crooked judge possibly tell them that their patent is invalid and shoudn't have been issued in the first place.

The patent system is definitely broken, but I don't think congress( all lawyers) is going to fix it since the fix is to get the lawyers out of the process.

"The patent system is definitely broken, but I don't think congress( all lawyers) is going to fix it since the fix is to get the lawyers out of the process."

you answered it right there, if there is any reform it should be how the attorneys actions are controlled, By the state bar, who are on these, other attorneys.