Public Patent Foundation

Public Patent Foundation, or PUBPAT, is a nonprofit organization that seeks to limit perceived abuse of the United States patent system. It was founded in 2003 by Dan Ravicher. As of 2004, there was growing concern by many technology professionals over the number of patents granted that are either too trivial to deserve protection, or duplicate existing or expired patents. It usually works by requesting the United States Patent Office to review patents that are suspected of being invalid somehow or another, usually by prior art.

The Board of Directors is as follows:

• Daniel Ravicher
• Eben Moglen
• Brian Kahin
• Arti K. Rai

Actions

• U.S. Congress Invites PUBPAT Executive to Testify About Patent Reform

Significant cases

• Pfizer Lipitor Patent (see Atorvastatin)
• Microsoft FAT patent (see File Allocation Table)
• Columbia Cotransformation Patent (see Richard Axel)
• Forgent Networks JPEG Related Patent (see Forgent Networks)

See also

• Intellectual property organization
• List of software patents
• Software patents and free software

External links

• Public Patent Foundation.

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