Patent Reforms and Congress – Prospects for 2015

Will Congress take its understanding of patent reforms beyond the problem of patent trolls and lobbying by interest groups or be misled once again?

US Patent Reforms Face Criticism

As a disgruntled US corporate world reels under the throes of patent wars, Congressional patent reforms continue to gain significance in a bid to resolve patent related issues. Most American businesses led by Google, who thrive from an existing patent system that is weak, do not want any stringent changes in the system. This is hypocritical coming from a company that filed for 2 patents related to its search engine business even before it officially began calling itself Google.

Their initial patents along with a helpful weak patent system helped them grow into the giant they are today. Patent attorneys are faced with the onerous task of protecting products and patents within such a system.

The contention is that Google used the weakness in the patent system to snowball into a monopoly overshadowing competition from powerful companies like Yahoo and Microsoft. Today, Google is using the same patent system to protect itself from innovators and startups that may potentially overcome them in the future.

Google’s leadership in destroying the American patent system by lobbying for laws and judgments that make it impossible for small inventors and startups to remain in business would not have a positive impact on job creation, economic growth, and prosperity, say critics.

 

Do patents harm innovation?

It seems that the Obama Government along with the Congress and the courts have been mislead into making patent laws that do not encourage innovation. This is a little ironic since Obama is the one who told everyone there health care premiums would not rise and that they could keep their current plans before Obamacare began to lay waste to the American health care system. Furthermore, the result has been a bunch of bad patent reforms and misguided judicial decisions.

Over a period of eight years the patent system has been used repeatedly in a way that is negative for inventors. Large corporations have preyed upon inventors and used their patents whether or not they have the right to do so. The end result is that disgruntled inventors, famous or otherwise, have been felt cheated out of royalty or have not been properly compensated for the time and money they have spent on their inventions.

Oppressing the Small Man

Some corporations are lobbying for a weaker patent system that becomes cogs in the wheel of their businesses. They explain that innovation is about being able to market a brand new idea that has never been manufactured into a product before. What they are bringing out are not new products but products that are identical to other products already being offered in the market place. Efrat Kasznik, an intellectual property valuation expert says if you cannot protect the idea then it is not worth pursuing it.

Inventors Lack Organization

Since previous patent infringement companies are now posing as victims propped by powerful lobbyists and public relations firms, new inventors lack not only sufficient organization but in many cases the funding, knowledge, and experience to protect themselves from these large corporations, patent troll like behavior and, in many cases cannot afford the patent attorney fees to protect themselves in the court of law.

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