Washington Examiner: A Simple Patent Fix Can Revive America’s Innovation Engine by Steve Forbes
Washington got one right for a change. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s proposed new “One Challenge” rule may finally break Big Tech’s stranglehold on innovation, revitalize our patent system, and supercharge America’s growth.
The establishment of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board was billed as a fair and expeditious means of rooting out weak patents. In practice, it became a legal meat grinder, and large corporations quickly learned how to weaponize it. Small inventors found that a successful patent defense in district court would only be followed by successive rounds of costly review. When the same patent can be attacked repeatedly, patent rights turn into revocable permissions, and only the deepest pockets survive.