Bezos open letter on patent reform

In 2000, Amazon's Jeff Bezos wrote an open letter in which he advocated for a general reform of US patent law. The letter was in response of the controversial 1-click patent.

Summary

Wired accurately summarized the letter as follows:

Yes, software patents are easy to get. Yes, the system needs radical change. And yes, we're keeping our software patents.

The letter

This is the main part of the letter, where Bezos outlines his suggestions:

But I do think we can help. As a company with some high-profile software patents, we're in a credible position to call for meaningful (perhaps even radical) patent reform. In fact, we may be uniquely positioned to do this.

Much (much, much, much) remains to be worked out, but here's an outline of what I have in mind:

1. That the patent laws should recognize that business method and software patents are fundamentally different than other kinds of patents.

2. That business method and software patents should have a much shorter lifespan than the current 17 years -- I would propose 3 to 5 years. This isn't like drug companies, which need long patent windows because of clinical testing, or like complicated physical processes, where you might have to tool up and build factories. Especially in the age of the Internet, a good software innovation can catch a lot of wind in 3 or 5 years.

3. That when the law changes, this new lifespan should take effect retroactively so that we don't have to wait 17 years for the current patents to enter the public domain.

4. That for business method and software patents there be a short (maybe 1 month?) public comment period before the patent number is issued. This would give the Internet community the opportunity to provide prior art references to the patent examiners at a time when it could really help. (Thanks to my friend Brewster Kahle for this suggestion.)

Related pages on ESP Wiki

• 20 years is too long
• Reducing patent duration