Opinion piece in NLJ on patent reform

From an opinion piece in the National Law Journal:

But the blame should not be laid at the feet of the patent office. It is Congress that should be on the hot seat. It's shameful that, while its members fiddle around on so-called patent reform — which is about nothing other than tinkering with where money and rights will land post-issuance and in litigation — they refuse to legislate real reform where it is needed most, at the patent office.

What Congress needs to write into the law is proper funding for the patent office, combined with clear instructions to dump the 19th century nonsense (quaint though it may be) and operate like a 21st century business. Pay the examiners well to get on the phone, go back and forth with their customers over very short periods of prosecution, make their decisions and move on.