Patent Law

Beware

By Gary Odom and Jordan Kuhn

Mr. Shun-Kuo Su of Taiwan gives an across-the-puddle perspective in Forbes of U.S. patent deform in the making:

[T]he bill would eliminate patent-holders' protection against frivolous lawsuits... These and other changes in the proposed legislation would cause inventors' costs to skyrocket. Patent values would erode as their legal stature fall into question. Such a coordinated attack on American patents would be devastating to inventors--and to consumers who rely on their products.

Su continues:

Without its strong patent system, the American market would look significantly less appealing--and American influence would wane considerably...Weakening the U.S. patent system would damage an important source of foreign goodwill toward America. The ramifications would be especially damaging to important allies.

Even more distressing, the U.S. Congress seems strangely unconcerned that large-scale counterfeiters and copycat artists would profit handsomely under the new system.

That uncertainty spells trouble for the future of research-intensive innovation. Currently, foreigners are driving much of the innovation passing through the Patent Office. Inventors the world over depend on the U.S. to protect the intellectual property that drives their entrepreneurial ambitions.

In deciding whether to pass the Patent Reform Act, Congress must choose whether it wants to protect the world's most productive and innovative minds or prop up manufacturers whose only contributions are made through imitation.

Full post as published by The Patent Prospector on March 19, 2008 (boomark / email).