The Government Accountability Office has a new report out about patent litigation. The study, which was commissioned as part of the America Invents Act, really features little in the way of useful conclusions or policy suggestions. It ends with a call that the Director of the Patent office “consider examining trends in patent infringement litigation” in order to make the examination process better, and suggests (obviously) that better “patent quality” would be better for everyone.
Of course, the reason the balance of power is so permanently out of whack at the Patent Office is that examiners must approve or deny patents after less than 20 hours of examination. And the Patent Office’s expenses aren’t paid with tax dollars; they’re paid entirely by applicants—the companies and individuals that want more patents, and have no interest in the public or competitors stopping their forthcoming monopolies.
Read more at ArsTechnica.
