Would you have the same people checking the claims of how much it cost
to develop an idea that now check the technical claims...?
Excellent point. The problem, as usual, is in the execution.
So could self-regulation be the answer?
(I'm not a lawyer, but...) Consider a voluntary public invention-protection
forum operating on principles very similar to those of the USPTO, but run by
a board comprised of elected members.
- Members submit ideas in confidence for evaluations by engineering types
"skilled in the art". The process is very simple, and versatile in it's use
of communications such as e-mail, personal interview, etc.
- The board's responsibility is to ensure competent and fair evaluation.
- Ideas considered to bare the essential attributes of a true invention are
declared such.
- Ideas not considered to be true inventions are released into the public
domain :-!
- Members agree to honor the evaluation, which means not suing anyone who
implements a non-invention and not using anyone's true invention without
negotiating compensation.
- Anyone who's not a member gets a raspberry.
- I wonder how much of government we can get rid of if we keep chipping away
at it?