Any Update On Defensive Publishing To Avoid Patents?

Question

I run a small business that designs algorithms and systems for dealing with geospatial data and then implements these with open-source software. These activities are not part of the core business. I want to defensively publish articles describing some of these ideas and implementations that could be subject to patent, so they are protected in perpetuity for the open source community. Is there any update to this post: How to make an invention un-patentable easily?

I'm looking for a way to defensively publish without shelling out 300 or 400 bucks for a commercial service. If I can't find something existing, I'll consider rolling my own journal that could be used by myself and other open source fans in the geospatial professions.

I'm not an IP or patent expert, so I appreciate any advice or suggestions.

Landon

Answer 1

Evidently there is a new website called Prior Art Archive created by MIT and Cisco. From the site's "About" page:

Low quality patents waste money. US companies spend millions of dollars year after year in litigation expenses defending against patents that shouldn’t have been issued. The patent examination process should stop patents from being issued on old or obvious technology. Unfortunately, just because technology is old doesn’t mean it is easy for a patent examiner to find. Particularly in the computer field, much prior art is in the form of old manuals, documentation, web sites, etc. that have, until now, not been readily searchable.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Cisco have collaborated to create this first free and open archiving platform for the entire IT industry.

Simply put: fewer bad patents will be issued if we as industry give USPTO examiners the tools they need to find old technology.

You have to create an account to submit but it is free. The about suggests it is only for IT related prior art. I'm not sure what happens if you submit for non IT related prior art.

Update:

I sent an email to [email protected] with the following question:

Can the Prior Art Archive be used to submit prior art not related to information technology? If not, is there any way the site can be expanded to include other fields?

I received the following response:

Hello Eric, the goal is to include other fields, though we started there. A critical mass in a category helps make it more useful.

If I receive any further information, I'll add it to the answer.