engine - 10:54 am on Sep 21, 2012 (gmt 0)

Members of the public are being asked by the US Patent Office to help weed out bogus patent applications. It wants to the public to contribute to a website that will spot applications for patents on technologies that have already been invented. People will also be able to flag up applications on the site they think are bogus and enlist help to investigate.

"Our hope is that Ask Patents will reduce the number of patents mistakenly granted for obvious, unoriginal non-inventions, especially around software," said Stack Exchange boss Joel Spolsky U.S. Patent Office Wants Help To Find Bogus Patent Claims [bbc.co.uk]