Dr. David Martin Comments on US Patent System Reform in the Financial Times

Date:  Thu, 2012-06-14

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA- Dr. David Martin was quoted in the Financial Times article written by Richard Waters, “US reform: Overhaul ‘fails to address system’s weaknesses”.

After a legislative effort dating back to the middle of the last decade, the US Congress succeeded last year in passing the first reform to the country’s patent system for more than 50 years.

Yet, while there was general agreement that an overhaul was badly needed, the law that was eventually passed did little to fix what is widely seen as the current system’s chief weakness: that it leads to the issuing of too many patents that lack real innovation and that clog up the legal system once their holders seek to enforce them against alleged infringers.

“But, while that creates an avenue for weeding out weak patents, it relies on the public to police the system, says David Martin, chairman of M-Cam, a patent licensing company. It does nothing to make sure only high-quality patents are issued in the first place.”

To read the entire article: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/c9aeab12-b3bf-11e1-8b03-00144feabdc0.html…