... In this paper, I will focus on patents, which offer one of the most secure forms of protection of property ranging from computer programs to industrial processes and unique designs and inventions. Patents are a palpable, legally-binding manifestation of a person’s genius and innovation; they allow a person to actually own an idea. Patents are designed to protect “any new and useful process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof. ... On one hand, patents create an incentive to produce new resources by giving the owner a limited exclusive right, so that he or she may get compensation for costs incurred. ... This example clearly evinces the benefits of the protection afforded by patents. But on the other hand, patents can and actually are misused. ... In other words, these massive dinosaurs, which are most likely to lose their clout in the wake of new innovation, will devour the new innovation to protect themselves from extinction. ... 217)
How else do patents limit innovation? ... Especially in those industries where there are already a large number of patents existing, there is a lot of overlap; this prompts strategic behavior by stakeholders who even remotely sense the use of an idea that resembles theirs. ...
A more significant hindrance to innovation is the “hold-up” problem. ... In industries with numerous patents, creating new products is like walking in a minefield. ... They inadvertently step on such mines and “lose their corporate legs” forcing them to pay royalties on patents that could have avoided by inventing around them. ...
Weapons of Mass Destruction:
In todays business environment, in which a companys market value is measured with increasing frequency by the intellectual property it owns, arsenals of patents -- specious or not -- make an unfortunate kind of sense.
These are the words of Denise Carusso, commenting on the recent rush by large corporations in filing patents. In what looks a lot like a real war situation, companies are engaged in an arms race, stockpiling patents into competitive arsenals in preparation for war, and in other cases as ammunition in an ongoing battle. What is more disturbing is the fact that some of the patents being issued are bogus patents. Ron Wilson, an executive editor for the Electronic Engineering Times journal, shocked by the issuing of such patents, was led to conclude that the US IP law has reduced itself to absurdity, adding that the patent process has turned into “a bludgeon to crush competition.”
In the technology sector for example, major players like IBM, Intel and Hewlet Packard have vast holdings of patents, which they use to attack each other with infringement charges and prevent newcomers by filing lawsuits. Notably, in 2000, IBM filed the largest number of patents in history in a year by a single company, a good 2000 of them. Yet, as I mentioned earlier, many of these patents do not warrant patent protection at all owing to their trivial nature. ... The US patent office needs to provide a good explanation for issuing some of these patents. ... Ron Wilson’s criticisms are very relevant in light of such patents issued. ...
In America today, the larger an entity is, the easier it is for it to secure patents. Big corporations attest to this by the large portfolios of patents many of them hold. ...
The economic benefits of a system of control through patents are clear. ... Dean Kamen is already reaping a great deal from his innovation because it is protected from theft and duplication by the control system afforded by patents. ... As I mentioned earlier, if those seeking to innovate are barred from these useful raw materials, overall progress and innovation may fall.
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