Dear People,

This will probably be my last posting to this "patent wars" list. This is my final chapter. As I have said ever since the patent sell-out legislation passed it has been my intention to end my involvement, "but honorably."

To me, that meant that the true history of what has transpired should be preserved until the Clinton-Gore administration (who made the deals with Asia that started all this) had passed into history. I want to thank all of you for your interest and support, and for feeding me useful information. Whatever the future holds, this will almost certainly mark the most noble effort that I have ever been a party to. It has been good to know you all.

It has been tedious. I was the first national columnist to publish warning of this in 1995, http://www.trudelgroup.com/upcol.htm. I was there helping lead the resistance until after the legislation passed. Did this help, or was I merely tilting at windmills? The future will decide. I think I was effective to some extent, because I became an important enough target to be worth some of the Clinton administration’s infamous "sliming."

It took much time and effort, but someone needed to fight this, so I did. My patriotic old DAR mother (she died in May 2000) was quite proud of my efforts. http//www.trudelgroup.com/dar.htm Still, there is a time for all things, and it is now time for my involvement in this war to end.

WHERE IT NOW STANDS

Perhaps strangely, I am optimistic. In my opinion, the primary goal of this Asian-sponsored legislation was to permanently cripple the our best-in-the-world patent system to allow cheap access to U.S. technology and dumb-down our innovation. http://reactor-core.org/patent-wars.html Ron Brown’s genius, still not well understood, was to use boring patent law to shape economic policy and attract foreign "donations." It’s inconvenient that Mr. Brown didn't live long enough to testify under oath about his secret deals and "fundraising."

In general, the Clinton administration's plans (yes, aided by some key Republicans) were almost successful. Those of us opposing this lost the big battles, and even a plea from a quorum of America’s Nobel laureates for open debate was ignored. http://www.trudelgroup.com/nobel.htm

As a result, the U.S. has gone from having the best patent system in the world to what may be one of the worst. One friend in Washington thinks that ours may now be the only system that fails to guarantee inventors a full 20-year term.

The early bills were blatant, legalizing "gifts and donations" to the PTO and overtly removing it from the purview of Congress and the courts. What passed is merely convoluted and ambiguous. The "smoking guns" seem to have been removed. In fact (see my answer below), given what has passed (including "technical corrections") it is now almost impossible to discern what the law says. Even experts disagree.

Congress certainly doesn't know. They voted to pass these bills before public copies were even available. Still, it is clear that the new system has much more "friction" and opportunity for bureaucratic abuse. There is little or no effective oversight of the PTO. If you like the IRS, you will love the new PTO.

That is unfortunate, given that the keys to future national security, world power, and economic prosperity will be intellectual property. Most know that they are clearly less safe now that the Chinese have our nuclear weapons designs. They need to learn that commercial innovation is also strategic. http//www.trudelgroup.com/vets.htm "Where nations used to fight wars over trade routes and raw materials, in the future they will fight wars over the ability to build and market unique products."

STILL THERE IS SOME VERY GOOD NEWS. We were overwhelmed and eventually lost all the major battles, but, against all odds, our tiny ragtag band held them off for 5 years. The war has not (yet) been lost. We have been lucky "God protects fools and Americans."

Congress and the courts still have purview. Against the odds, the Clinton cabal has been broken and is fading into history. Americans can change the law if we so choose, or we can even negate the new bills (possibly on Constitutional grounds) and go back to what we had.

Relating to patent rights, we are much like the U.S. when the sun came up on December 8, 1941. Our most potent weapons for innovation are gone. The battleships are sunk, but we can rebuild if we so choose. Americans still have the ability to choose their future. I wish you well and hope you choose wisely.

Larry Lessig's book "The Future of Ideas" is recommended. While I do not agree with all his recommendations, his analysis of what transpired is credible. In fact, I turned over my "patent wars" archives to Larry, and wished him well.