However, due to the recession and the delay due to a backlog of pending patents, businesses are registering fewer patents. Less revenue means layoffs at the Patent Office and creates a vicious cycle of bigger backlogs as the Patent Office struggles to process more patents with fewer resources.
More troubling, Big Business has found that it can stifle innovation by small, upstart competitors by bogging down new patent filings in legal challenges. Filing a patent is cheap, about $1,000, but defending a new patent in court can cost $ millions. It's just another example of how the deck is stacked against the Little Guy.
Patent filings fell in 2009 for the first time in 13 years, worrying Silicon Valley that it is losing its place as the leader in global innovation.
By David Goldman,
December 11, 2009 CNNMoney.com
No comments:
Post a Comment