A Pitch For Patent Reform

Writing in the Congress Blog, in the influential Washington publication The Hill, two economics professors see major problems in the U.S. patent system. “We report here the consensus among academic researchers of the patent system that the system as currently constituted is failing, serves to discourage rather than encourage innovation, and is in desperate need of reform.” They say the current system imposes substantial costs and reduces investment and R&D, especially in smaller companies, with much of the problem the result of litigation filed by non-practicing entities, or patent trolls.