A reader writes on our forum at sister site Edison Nation:
“Ok Mike Drummond big basic question here for your readers:
Does anybody ever ask the question, who statistically profits from patents? Answer—big companies do. Why do the ordinary tax payers fund this expensive jamboree with its secret code of writing claims etc.?
In reality it is not for the general public or their creations at all, but the patent offices are an industry that serves big business. Why does not big business pay in proportion to what they use?”
-Brandan Reen
And I reply:
Brendan,
You ask a seemingly basic question. Allow me to give you a long-winded answer. I’m feeling moved:
The USPTO has a boat-load of problems, that’s for sure. But I’m a little more forgiving than you are.
Big companies pay higher fees than so-called small entities. I think one could reasonably debate (is that still being done?) whether those higher fees are actually proportional, given the deep pockets of the major filers. And this is the essence of the question you raise. USPTO chief David Kappos flat-out told me he’s looking to increase fees. But he does not intend to increase fees for independent inventors. Big companies would pay higher fees, if he gets his way.
The USPTO is entirely funded through user fees. It’s not a taxpayer-funded jamboree. While I really like that word ‘jamboree,’ it’s not entirely applicable in the context that you’re using it. If you want a jamboree, look to Congress, which is considering pilfering (my word) excess fees the USPTO may generate this year and plowing it into the general treasury. Don’t get me started on this.
Here’s something else to mull: I was on the phone today (1.25.10) with John Calvert, administrator of the USPTO’s Inventors Assistance Program. He was telling me that more than 11,000 independent inventors submitted patent applications pro se in 2009 – that is, without aid of an attorney. Evidently, these 11,000+ folks believe there is value in protecting intellectual property – so much value, in fact, that they’re willing to file a patent all on their lonesome.
I’ll have to recheck my facts, but I’m 97% sure more independent inventors file patents than do companies. To be sure, large corporates file more applications in any given year, but in terms of the numbers of entities filing patents, there are more indies filing than big companies.
Note also that Kappos is currently on a nationwide listening tour specifically to hear what independent inventors have to say about the agency and how to improve it. Actions speak louder than words – and he seems actively engaged with the independent inventor community.
Also note that Kappos has instituted a couple of proposals designed specifically to help small inventors get patents more quickly – see our January cover story for deets.
(I’m also hearing murmurings from some quarters that there should be a 30-month time span for provisional patent applications, instead of the current 12 months. I don’t know if the USPTO is considering this, but it would give indies a longer IP runway to get their products financed and commercialized. Note to self: Someone should get a letter-writing campaign ginned up.)
What else? Oh yeah, I’m reading an unpublished white paper from an Auburn University professor who outlines ways to make the USPTO more friendly for – how’s he put it? – the “inventing-citizen community.” It’s 36 pages, and I haven’t read it all the way through. But USPTO officials say it’s a pretty compelling document. I sensed that it had a lot of currency with Calvert.
So, yeah, the USPTO is “an industry that serves big business.” But it’s also an agency that serves independent inventors. I’m hoping, and signs look promising, that it will do more for the inventing-citizen community in the coming months.
It would be interesting to know of the 11,000 independent inventors who filed applications pro se last year, how many filed utility or plant patent applications? How many filed design patent applications. I suspect that the majority of pro se applicants file design applications, which are much easier to prepare but are far less valuable than utility patents. If you ignore design patent applications, I am quite sure that companies (small, medium and large) are filing more utility applications than independent inventors.
Michael,
Your argument may be valid. However, the USPTO does not collect data on pro se filers – at least reliable data. The USPTO official who shared those figures with me conceded that the number “may be 75 percent correct.” I hope that going forward, the USPTO will collect that data.
The USPTO is a grand experiment. That being said we need to simplify the process,tighten language and shorten process. There is no reason, with information tech at its current level,that with appropriate employees we could have a 180-day patent process for independant under 10 claim utility patents. They could set up a “WIKI” to do some of the heavy lifting on searches. Academia uses independent editors for publishing papers. My daughter is a PHD in molecular cell biology at Novartis and she has supplemented her income since grad school via blackberry in this fashion.
There are enough retired engineers and young tech people that would join this model to bootstrap innovation here in the US. Also independent inventors should have Fees refunded when product comes to market or assigned and manufactured in the US. As long as product is made in US renewal fees waived. That would be stimulating. 5 -year backlog is not.