A Patent System for the 21st Century

✍ Scribed by Committee on Intellectual Property Rights in the Knowledge-Based Economy, National Research Council, Stephen A. Merrill, Richard C. Levin, Mark B. Myers

• Publisher: National Academies Press
• Year: 2004
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 186
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

The U.S. patent system is in an accelerating race with human ingenuity and investments in innovation. In many respects the system has responded with admirable flexibility, but the strain of continual technological change and the greater importance ascribed to patents in a knowledge economy are exposing weaknesses including questionable patent quality, rising transaction costs, impediments to the dissemination of information through patents, and international inconsistencies. A panel including a mix of legal expertise, economists, technologists, and university and corporate officials recommends significant changes in the way the patent system operates. A Patent System for the 21st Century urges creation of a mechanism for post-grant challenges to newly issued patents, reinvigoration of the non-obviousness standard to quality for a patent, strengthening of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, simplified and less costly litigation, harmonization of the U.S., European, and Japanese examination process, and protection of some research from patent infringement liability.

✦ Table of Contents

FrontMatter......Page 1
Acknowledgments......Page 9
Contents......Page 13
Executive Summary......Page 15
1 Introduction......Page 23
2 Six Reasons to Pay Attention to the Patent System......Page 32
3 Seven Criteria for Evaluating the Patent System......Page 53
4 Seven Recommendations for a 21st-Century Patent System......Page 95
References......Page 144
Acronyms......Page 152
Law Cases Cited......Page 154
APPENDIX A A Patent Primer......Page 157
APPENDIX B Contributors......Page 169
APPENDIX C Committee and Staff Biographies......Page 176