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BusinessWeek flubs discussion on patents

By Lawrence B. Ebert, Esq.

In an article in BusinessWeek titled The U.S. Is Losing Its Lead in Patents , Michael Arndt writes

Last year, for the first time, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office issued more patents to foreigners than to Americans.

IPBiz suggests that "last year" is not the first time non-US entities received more US patents than US entities.

Odd text within the BW article:

American patent awards may be dropping for another reason. "A lot of U.S. companies are cost-conscious and are not filing for patents on everything," says Christopher J. Renk, an IP attorney at Chicago law firm Banner & Witcoff. Instead, they are seeking protection only on breakthroughs that seem most valuable and therefore worth the two years it takes to procure a patent. First, for most people, it takes more than two years. Second, what does this have to do with the value of the patent or the decision to patent?

Also:

The role reversal is due mostly to an upsurge in patents to inventors in Japan, South Korea, and China, and a decline in the U.S. for the second year in a row. All told, American inventors received 92,000 patents in 2008, down 1.8% from the year before and a rise of just 1.4% over the past decade. Meantime, patients [sic] issued to foreigners rose 4.5%, to 93,244, in 2008 and 28.6% since 1998.

And:

While the U.S. is still the biggest recipient of patents?and holds the most valuable ones, according to analysis by Ocean Tomo, a firm that measures the worth of intellectual property?the slippage comes amid recent reports that show the U.S. losing its edge when it comes to innovation. Among them: a study by the National Association of Manufacturers and Boston Consulting Group that ranks the U.S. eighth, with Singapore, South Korea, and Switzerland at the top.

"If I were a policymaker, I would be paying attention to this," says Wendi Backler, global leader of BCG's intellectual property practice.

IPBiz: snore.

Full post as published by IPBiz on April 24, 2009 (boomark / email).