Washington Examiner: People are fed up, and Trump needs affordability win. Here’s his chance by Lamar Smith
Patent reform might not seem like an obvious tool for calming voters’ economic anxieties. But the truth is, patent protections are essential to spurring the kind of innovation that creates jobs, grows the economy, and brings down prices.
Strong, consistently enforced patents allow inventors to profit from their original creations. They also provide investors with the confidence they need to make big bets on experimental technologies, processes, and business ideas.
In this way, patents play an outsize role in growing the economy and creating jobs. By one estimate, intellectual property-intensive industries are responsible for more than 40% of economic activity in the United States and support over 62 million jobs. Workers in sectors that rely heavily on patents and other IP protections also tend to be paid more, on average, than their counterparts in non-IP-intensive industries.
By creating a system in which companies can profit by inventing their own, newer, and better products rather than just stealing a rival’s technology, IP protections also foster the sort of competition that brings prices down and improves our quality of life.
And so, if the president is looking for ways to strengthen job prospects, bring down prices, and put America’s economy on a surer footing, addressing some of the most serious problems in our patent system is a good place to start.