Getting a patent is a slower process than ever, and inventors say all the extra time is costing them. By Jeff NesmithWASHINGTON BUREAU Sunday, August 27, 2006 WASHINGTON — Nearly six years ago, Dan Bogard, an Austin inventor, applied for a U.S. patent on a process for transmitting digital data. Behind the highly technical description of Bogard's application was a simple goal: a more reliable way to send the sound produced in devices such as MP3 and CD players to earphones. But while a semiconductor chip can perform a calculation in a billionth of a second, applications for patents in America move much more slowly. .