IT’S good news for small-time inventors but a blow for some of the giants of technology. A bill going through the US Senate that would have slashed the damages inventors receive when patents are infringed has been kicked into the long grass.
The US Patent Reform Bill, backed by Microsoft, Apple and Intel, aims to reduce incentives for patent “trolls”, who file patents without any intention of developing them. It sets damages in proportion to the contribution an invention makes to a product, rather than the full value of the product. Inventors say the bill would encourage infringement.
On 10…
