但是数年以来，美国专利和商标局的采取放任态度，已经让软件专利泛滥，哪怕他们一无所用或者完全混乱。
But for years, the default of the United States Patentand Trademark Office has been to grant software patents even when they areimpossibly broad or utterly confusing.
这20年间美国专利与商标局分配给美国实体的专利增长率平均为每年7%左右。
The annual growth rate of USPTO patents assigned to U.S. entities during this period averaged around 7%.
密尔沃基哨兵报的约翰.施密德，分析了美国专利和商标局的数据后发现，截至2009年，有120多万项专利在排队等待批准，这是相比10年前是接近两倍的数量。
that as of 2009, there were more than 1.2 million patents awaiting approval—nearly triple the number a decade earlier.
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