The patent wars have been going on for quite a bit now, and while we do believe that your intellectual property should be protected, at this point in time it does seem like these big companies are just using patents as an excuse to edge each other out of the competition. Probably the most recognizable patent war at the moment would be Apple versus Samsung, where Apple has chased Samsung halfway around the world, intent on stopping them from selling some of their products.

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A while back we reported that Verizon mentioned that President Obama should step in and do something about these patent wars that were seemingly getting out of hand, and now it looks like something has been done in the form of an overhaul of the current US patent system. It appears that the Senate has voted 89-9 to pass the bill and are awaiting President Obama’s signature.

The goal of this overhaul is to streamline the patent process and give the patent office more money and manpower to process the patents in a more timely manner. Hopefully this will result in better patent examiners who will be better judges of the various patents that are getting passed, and hopefully put an end to the patent wars and patent trolls (i.e. Lodsys)who use broad and vague patents to seek royalties and compensation.

Filed in . Read more about Apple Inc, Lawsuit, Patent Infringement and Samsung.