Hostile Environment For Inventors Harms Our Economy
"Whether we continue to lead the world in software, or we are displaced by China is now uncertain. In
stark contrast to the U.S., China and the rest of the world have been strengthening the Exclusive Right
and the Presumption of Validity for patents in their respective countries. 46
These positive changes are
stimulating innovation in those countries and growing their economies. The U.S., unfortunately, is going
in the opposite direction. We are weakening patent protection. Today, we have more companies going
out of business than starting up for the first time in our history. If we continue down this anti-patent
road, the U.S. will no longer lead. China will.
Congress, the administration and the courts all see that the patent system as broken. They are right. It
is broken. But not for the reasons they think it is broken. The facts have been hijacked by the loud
impermeable voices of those who benefit from weak patent rights. Those negatively affected, the
inventors and the American public, cannot get a word in edgewise. If we continue to enact broad
changes under the misguided “patent troll” arguments, we can expect even greater damage to our
economy and our standing in the world.
We must go the other way. We must stop the further weakening of the U.S. patent system. Congress
must pass laws negating the effects of eBay vs. MercExchange so that a patent is again an Exclusive
Right. The Presumption of Validity must also be restored by eliminating PGO’s and other provisions of
the AIA. The misguided “abstract idea” category of patentable subject matter must be eliminated
altogether. Lastly, the PTO must be fully funded and better managed.
Without these changes – setting it back to what it was just a decade ago – we will become like all other
countries – unexceptional. Someone else will lead future technology revolutions. Perhaps that country
will be China and our generation will be known for the greatest blunder in history."
stark contrast to the U.S., China and the rest of the world have been strengthening the Exclusive Right
and the Presumption of Validity for patents in their respective countries. 46
These positive changes are
stimulating innovation in those countries and growing their economies. The U.S., unfortunately, is going
in the opposite direction. We are weakening patent protection. Today, we have more companies going
out of business than starting up for the first time in our history. If we continue down this anti-patent
road, the U.S. will no longer lead. China will.
Congress, the administration and the courts all see that the patent system as broken. They are right. It
is broken. But not for the reasons they think it is broken. The facts have been hijacked by the loud
impermeable voices of those who benefit from weak patent rights. Those negatively affected, the
inventors and the American public, cannot get a word in edgewise. If we continue to enact broad
changes under the misguided “patent troll” arguments, we can expect even greater damage to our
economy and our standing in the world.
We must go the other way. We must stop the further weakening of the U.S. patent system. Congress
must pass laws negating the effects of eBay vs. MercExchange so that a patent is again an Exclusive
Right. The Presumption of Validity must also be restored by eliminating PGO’s and other provisions of
the AIA. The misguided “abstract idea” category of patentable subject matter must be eliminated
altogether. Lastly, the PTO must be fully funded and better managed.
Without these changes – setting it back to what it was just a decade ago – we will become like all other
countries – unexceptional. Someone else will lead future technology revolutions. Perhaps that country
will be China and our generation will be known for the greatest blunder in history."
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2. What the heck is your expertise in saying what should be allowed and what shoudn't? Are you a patent atty, a patent examiner, a CAFC judge with the accepted credentials to determine patent validity? This is exactly the kind of thing I 'm talking about. I don 't feel comfotable telling a cardiologist he misread my Ekg. Yet all sorts of people think they can weigh in on the patent debate and say what is or isn 't an invention, how to read and analyze claim construction, whether the system is broken or not. Fact is you 've been the unwitting dupe of a masterful PR campaign funded by big business and that campaign is full of lies and junk science designed ellicit your opinion from emotion. As Adam Mosoff says about the patent reform debate. It takes no time at all to throw unsubstantiated arguments out there or false statistics. While those of us trying to find the truth have to have time and present solid research. Before that process can complete senators and politicians are already crying for reform and legislation all built on crap. Well this is our industry and we are the friend of the small inventor out there getting atyacked by cronies and many libertarians and a bunch of people riding the misinformation train.
2. An inventor is an inventor regardless of whether he ever manufactures.
3. What is your experience in reading claims.? The patents involved take alot of time by experienced people to determine infringement or validity.
4. We look at this issue every day, my husband writes books on intellectual property, we analyze the data on litigation, litigation rates and supreme court cases. You can disagree all you want but I have given facts, presented cited arguments while you have given opinion not based on solid evidence. Further, you also continue to use pejoratives when speaking about inventors. Rand revered inventors. By your own definition Edison would have been a "patent troll. " I unhid your comments because you said the Oath. But it's very annoying to have to argue from mis information or junk science i.e. you 've read the patents so...
Was I also a plant on adult immunizations? Global warming? Chicago police black sites? Dazbog coffee?
"When Personal Audio first began its litigation, it was under the impression that Carolla, the self-proclaimed largest podcaster in the world, as well as certain other podcasters, were making significant money from infringing Personal Audio’s patents. After the parties completed discovery, however, it became clear this was not the case. As a result, Personal Audio began to offer dismissals from the case to the podcasting companies involved, rather than to litigate over the smaller amounts of money at issue."
I read Atlas for the first time when I was a freshman in high school, and have re-read it at least once a year since then. I contributed financially to the movies, and donate yearly to the foundation. Just because I disagree with you on one minor part of an argument in which we mostly agree doesn't mean I am a plant. You paint with the broad brush and say there's no such thing as a patent troll. I simply state there are. That doesn't change the fact that the patent system is broken. We can work together to fix one problem without agreeing on all of them.
If you had any intellectual honesty, you would quickly unblock my comments. Ayn's gulch had free, open debates every night, and dissent and discussion were valued. "I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another to live for me."
I wholeheartedly agree that our patent system has been virtually destroyed, and the ability of a small business to protect their Intellectual Property is one of the worst problems facing our economy today. In that we are in agreement. I just don't want to rule out one very real problem in order to fix another. Both problems are very real. There are people out there who are simply using the patent system to profit off other peoples work just as much as their are people taking advantage of lax IP laws to destroy inventors. I have a personal friend who has patented a health care product. While his patent is in tact at this point, the big pharma companies have sued him at every turn on everything from naming rights to packaging similarities, etc. His product has been proven in numerous lab studies to work better than a product on the market from one of the big boys. However, the litigation is going to put him out of business. J&J's legal counsel even told him that they would lose if it ever came to court, however, they knew they could put him out of business in legal costs before it ever got there.
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