The "clogged and costly" U.S. patent system is in need of reform that will spur increased technological and scientific innovation and allow the United States to compete in an increasingly global marketplace.
That is the overarching conclusion made by University of Colorado at 麻豆影院 economics Professor Keith Maskus in a recent Council on Foreign Relations report. The council is an independent membership organization that disseminates information to the press, corporations, policymakers and citizens interested in learning more about foreign policy choices facing the United States and other countries.
In a council report issued last month, Maskus argues that the U.S. patent system has become increasingly inefficient and costly for companies that want to build on the ideas of original inventors. The report contends that well-meaning, but shortsighted, legal conventions about patent protection are hindering innovation and competition.
"America's robust economic competitiveness is due in no small part to a large capacity for innovation. That capacity, however, is imperiled by an increasingly overprotective patent system," according to the report.
To illustrate his point, Maskus cites the "lightning-rod case" of Research in Motion, maker of the popular BlackBerry handheld wireless e-mail device. To avoid a court-ordered shutdown of its operations, RIM chose to pay a $612.5 million settlement after a federal judge supported a patent infringement case brought by NPT Inc. The judge made the decision despite a previous ruling by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, which had concluded that all five NPT patents were invalid.
Intellectual property rights are important, but Maskus notes that innovative industries rely on a cross-fertilization of ideas to build on predecessors' work. As such, he argues that the interests of original innovators should be more fairly balanced against those of market entrants who want to push technologies and information in creative new directions.
Among his recommendations for improving U.S. patent laws, Maskus argues that the nation should "return to basic patenting principles and restore the system to one that encourages innovation rather than extraction of payments from legitimate competitors."
He also recommends that the United States abandon attempts to push for international patent standards that conform to the U.S. system. Such efforts tend to create distrust in other industrialized nations and resentment of overall U.S. trade policy in the developing world, he contends.
According to the council report, the shortcomings of the U.S. patent system stand in sharp contrast with more balanced laws in Canada and Europe that are "more supportive of dynamic competition and the diffusion of technologies."
In addition, Maskus argues, mushrooming litigation costs, overly broad or unclear patents, and laissez-faire antitrust policies that exclude potential competitors could impede U.S. progress and hand the competitive edge to China, India and other emerging economies. His report comes as the U.S. Congress prepares to reconsider bipartisan legislation calling for reforms of domestic patent laws.
To read the full report, go to .