As I watch the decline of the US patent system, I have to marvel at how much loss the world is facing through the crushing barriers to innovation and job creation in the U.S. Once the beacon of innovation for the world, now would-be innovators are afraid to take the risks required to bring their new products and services to the market because they cannot get the protection that should be theirs when IP rights are strong. If a Google or Microsoft takes their invention, the great equalizer of patents will not be there for them.
In the name of advancing innovation, Congress created a monster called the American Invents Act. This was done without input from the small inventors and entrepreneurs of the world, where most innovation and job creation occurs. It was based on input from the giants like Google who despise patents (other people’s patents, that is). But thanks to the AIA, there is now a host of new ways to destroy patents and they are being used with startling effectiveness.
A key component of the war on patents is the new “patent death squad,” that Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Based on the statistics from their work, there is little hope left for patent owners. See Gene Quinn’s excellent report, “Misleading PTO statistics hide a hopelessly broken PTAB” at IPWatchdog.com. Startling, troubling, but accurate.
The war on innovation also includes action from the courts, especially the Supreme Court, which has given judges bold new weapons to invalidate patents by calling their subject matter “abstract” — a deadly word that is vague, which the Supreme Court has not even attempted to define. The possibilities for patent destruction under the Supreme Court’s new Alice test are immense, and I’ve seen some great innovations blown apart with that weapon.
The USPTO, now led by a Google attorney, has repeatedly taken a hostile attitude in how they interpret laws and create policies regarding patent examination. The results are shameful.
The politicians and their gargantuan backers are winning the war against IP and innovation in the US. It’s time for Congress to pare back the damage they have done with the AIA, and for champions of innovation to rise and demand a more equitable system.