The Washington Times Editorial: Wary of ‘comprehensive’ patent reform, by The Washington Times
This editorial originally appeared in The Washington Times on February 22, 2015.
Compromise and a willingness to put partisan and ideological interests aside in the name of the common good nearly always sounds good. But it’s wise to be wary. “The common good” is often good mostly for the clever, the selfish and those with the best lawyers and brightest lobbyists.
“Comprehensive reform,” for an example, requires bipartisan consensus to win public, congressional and presidential approval. If such legislation is pushed too far, too fast, through Congress it creates more problems than it solves. Two such examples are much of the civil rights legislation of the ‘60s and the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, of our own day.
There are a number of ways reforms attract bipartisan support. They can make so much sense that Republicans, Democrats, liberals and conservatives agree with each other on the merits of the legislation. This, ideally, is the way it should be. President Obama’s view of bipartisanship, however, is different. He dares his opponents to agree with him or face the consequence of rhetorical beatings and media shaming. This often cows the weak and passionless to surrender their principles merely to get a place by the campfire, to hold hands and sing all 44 verses of “Kumbaya.”
The worst of bipartisan comprehensive reforms are forged by special interests, who have much to spend, and they’re eager to spread it around. Such money, like water, finds its way to the lowest places. “Comprehensive” patent law proposals now squirming and worming through Congress are the poster children of this sort of bipartisan reform. Patent law clearly needs updating; the body of patent law has not been improved in 30 years, and during that time many new things have been invented and many old things have been improved. Congress is rightly focused on fixing, or tweaking, them. It’s important to make life difficult for the “trollers” who threaten businesses large and small with nuisance lawsuits claiming patent infringement. The trollers’ message is clear: Pay up, and we’ll go away.