The cost of ideas

Date:  Sat, 2004-11-13

It is becoming ever more apparent that the patent system isn’t working excepted from: The Economist: November 13, 2004 pg. 71 … In America, several controversial business-method patent awards, notably Amazon’s one-click payment process, have fuelled the perception that the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) is under strain. A study by M·CAM, an intellectual-property consultancy, found that over 30% of patents make duplicate claims, raising questions about their validity. America’s PTO dismisses the criticism as anecdotal. “We’re seeing lots of new industries being born, that is why there are a lot more patent applications,” say Mary Critharis of the PTO. The number of patent applications to the PTO is growing at around 6% a year. The wait for a decision is on average 27 months – and much longer for complex applications in advanced sciences. Last year, the PTO received around 350,000 applications and currently has a backlog of over half a million to review. It is a global concern: foreigners account for around half of all patents granted. Similar growth is occurring elsewhere, including in countries that previously showed little interest in intellectual property. Applications to China’s patent office increased fivefold from 1991 to 2001. As countries such as China, South Korea and India spend more on research and development, they are filing more patents. …