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Would hurt the proverbial small inventor more than it would hurt others. Almost like a regressive tax.



I think the problem is that the proverbial small inventor is extremely rare, and if they are indeed small enough for us to take pity on them, then a patent isn't enough to protect them anyway.


I don't think the proverbial small inventor is so rare, but that as you say, a patent is practically useless for them.


Make the prior art fee scale up by number of patent applications submitted by that entity, then. First one's free. Then $100, then start growing at some small-ish exponent.


Then you get shell companies and such being used for patent filing making it harder to establish who really is in control of the applications.




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