> most software patent lawyers know as much about software as you or I do.
> I've worked with several
To be fair, that's not a compelling answer. Given the outrageous cases that are publicized, I can understand how there is an incentive to NOT know (or act as if) in an exploitative manner. According to a razor, it's less likely that the competence is a standard or relevant.
I have noted elsewhere that the outrageous examples are publicised because they are outrageous, but that doesn't make them a valid statistical sample of all software patents.
Patent lawyers need to understand the material well enough to draft the claims and perform clearance searches. If they can't do that then they are sailing towards failing their fiduciary duty; a lawyer anxious to hold onto their bar membership would refer you to another one with a speciality in the field.
If I go to a criminal lawyer and ask for tax help, they will refer me to a tax lawyer. If I go to a chemical engineering patent lawyer to talk about a compression algorithm, they will refer me to a patent lawyer who specialises in software and computing.
> I've worked with several
To be fair, that's not a compelling answer. Given the outrageous cases that are publicized, I can understand how there is an incentive to NOT know (or act as if) in an exploitative manner. According to a razor, it's less likely that the competence is a standard or relevant.