The rush is on among investment banks to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The New York Times reports that since the late 1990s, the banks have been making numerous trips to the patent office to protect all their financial product-related software and intellectual property in preparation for an expected battle with potential infringers. In just eight years, the number of those patents has soared from 927 in 1997 to 6,226 last year. The sheer volume has created a backlog of four or five years for patents, which at this point may be no big deal. The problems will arise, according to the Times, when individuals or smaller firms in the business to hold patents start challenging the big boys. To date, most of the skirmishes over patents have been small and have settled, but observers say it is just a matter of time when financial giants will be heading to court to challenge infringers.
