inequitable conduct

so, i made my semi-regular trip down to salt lake for the utah bar ip section's semi-monthly luncheon yesterday. could my time have been more peacefully spent sitting in on fifty screaming five year olds? obviously.

the subject was ksr, and i was hopeful that the speaker would choose the better part, objectively discussing the benefits of a stronger patent system, where patents might actually be worth more than half the vast sums clients pay to their patent attorneys. alas, what we got was pretty standard fare for practitioners these days--rabid, foaming at the mouth, irrational vitriole. what was worse, this particular practitioner who addressed us freely admitted to numerous charges levelled against him for inequitable conduct.

i suppose that what passes for professionalism in the bar these days is rather dismal regardless of specialty. and i suppose that, for the most part, the work a patent prosecutor does, per se, doesn't result in innocent people being executed by the state. the unabashed, socially destructive pursuit of wealth, notwithstanding the nonsensical charade that terms itself the "zealous representation" of another's interests, must still be condemned.

honestly, the demolition work patent attorneys do day after day against the free market would make even hank paulson blush. not that demolishing the free market is necessarily bad, of course, but i'd rather see markets and capitalism destroyed in the name of the greater good, rather than as mere sacrifices made to corner a market, or to make partner, as the case may be.