Posts Tagged: "president reagan"

The One Word that Will Help Restore the U.S. Patent System

Based on the age of many of us in the room, President Reagan was probably the first president many of us remember. And I mention this because we need another President Reagan—another person like that, who sees the power of the patent system. Upon taking Office, President Reagan told the then leaders at the patent office that the backlog of unexamined patent applications was unacceptable and he wanted it brought down to 18 months in his first term. The leaders at the patent office told him that that was simply not possible. That’s how bad the backlog was then. And then President Reagan and his advisors asked whether it would be possible to reduce the backlog to an average pendency of 18 months within two terms, assuming he would be given two terms. And they said, “yes, we think we can do that within two terms.”  And they didn’t quite get it done, but they got really, really close. They got to around 18.2 or 18.3 months average pendency by the end of President Reagan’s second term. And it was because President Reagan invested in the patent office.

Raid on Gibraltar: How the U.S. Patent System was Rigged Against Independent Inventors

The numbers are stark. As recently as 1990, individual inventors were granted 17 percent of all patents. By 2000, they received 12 percent and only 6.8 percent in 2010. In 2015, individual inventors were granted only 5.8 percent of all patents. In sum, if there is any example of a nation squandering its technological seed corn, this systematic weakening of U.S. patent protections for some “guy in the garage” is it. The great irony is that most of the people behind the screen in all this got their start in that same “garage.” They know this all too well, which is why they’re relieved to see the garage all but Closed for Business.

Past as Prologue: Is there Hope for America’s Patent System?

We need to remember that we’ve seen America’s patent system in near complete collapse before. In the 1960s and 1970s the Supreme Court never saw a patent that was valid, which lead to the creation of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. In the 1970s and early 1980s there was great concern that Japan would win the technology future and America would become an also-ran in the burgeoning technological revolution, but that never happened… In the 1980s, a strong patent system was the primary driver for the economic achievements that unleashed American enterprise and allowed the United States to compete on the world stage. It worked in the 1980s to address what was a similarly difficult time, and it will work today.

Want to Revive the Economy? Restore the Patent System!

The old arguments that patents inhibit innovation, and non-exclusivity with compulsory licensing leads to a brave new world are now in vogue. We’ve stood at this fork in the road before. It requires courage to reject the easy path downward and restore the system which created our prosperity. If we lack the will, we have no one else to blame as we plunge deeper into the mire. That’s the last place anyone wanting to drain the swamp while growing the economy should go.

Kasich, Patents and the Middle Class

What Kasich doesn’t explain, however, is how he achieved a balanced budget. As part of the Kasich-Clinton deal the budget of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) was raided for additional money to help plug shortfalls elsewhere. The appropriations cap placed on the USPTO for fiscal year 1998 was $691 million, and according to the IPO $199 million was collected but diverted, which means 22.4% of fee collections were taken from the USPTO in FY 1998 and used for other purposes… Republicans, including Kasich, love to lay claim to the Reagan legacy. But President Reagan was a supporter of the patent system. He never would have tolerated raiding the USPTO budget for any reason. We know that because it was President Reagan that demanded a build up of the USPTO as part of his overall strategy to make America great again and compete with the Japanese for technology dominance.