America?s Patent Crisis

But in the thriving digital sector, patents don?t work at all, and more patents are likely to cause more litigation rather than more innovation. A product like the iPhone that was world-changing and awesome five years ago seems boring today, leaving people to wonder what?s next. In this space, where the capital costs of innovating are relatively low, invention is driven by competition not monopolies. Practical engineers working in high-tech understand that the patent war is bad for innovation, but disturbingly the big corporate players in the industry are reconciling to it?costing American consumers billions and stifling startups. The government hands out patents so freely that there?s no way to make anything without violating every other big player?s patents. That?s fine for established firms that have had time to assemble (or buy) vast patent arsenals. But it?s a disaster for new entrants, who know that any successful new product they make will be taxed by a storm of litigation once it becomes popular. The real risk of ?foregone innovation? is that resources will be shunted away from making great products into hiring lawyers and away from investing in promising new firms into investing in old ones with legacy patent arsenals.

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