TechLead Corporation

The analogy between Ichiro Suzuki and Toyota Motors

I am trying to think of an analogy between Ichiro Suzuki, a star player for the Seattle Mariners and Toyota Motors, the largest automobile manufacturer in Japan.

Ichiro Suzuki is not a typical Major League Baseball slugger. His mission at the plate is not to hit homeruns, but get on base as much as possible. He seldom swings for the fence.

The USPTO says the rules are intended to speed reviews, but critics say they would limit patent protection.

By Paul McDougall,  InformationWeek
Oct. 31, 2007
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Copyright © 2007 CMP Media LLC

A federal judge on Wednesday enjoined the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office from instituting new rules, scheduled to take effect Nov. 1, that critics say would limit the level of patent protection available to inventors.

Ruling on a motion filed by pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, which is suing the Patent Office over the issue, Judge James Cacheris of the U.S. Court for the Eastern District of Virginia blocked, for now at least, the patent office from implementing the regulations Thursday as planned.

"This is a sign that the challenge to these rules is legitimate," said Mark Murphy, a Chicago-based patent attorney whose firm, Cook Alex, is not involved in the litigation.

The new rules are intended to speed patent reviews by the chronically understaffed USPTO. Among other things, they limit so-called "continuing applications" through which inventors can modify existing patent applications.