Cambridge University Press: Declining Patent Reliability and Venture Capital Reallocation by Mark F. Schultz
Between 2004 and 2017, venture capital investment in patent-intensive industries fell from over 50% to 28% of total U.S. VC funding. The share of VC for pharmaceutical startups collapsed from 7% to under 1%, while medical devices lost half their share. This reallocation coincided with patent system changes, eBay, Mayo, Myriad, Alice, and the America Invents Act, that made patents harder to obtain, easier to invalidate, and more difficult to enforce. Did weakened patent reliability drive capital away from life sciences innovation?