USPTO already turning out low quality patents
Jonathan Stroud ’23, May 10, general counsel at Unified Patents, a membership organization that seeks to improve patent quality and deter patent abuse, “Congressional hearing exposes fatal flaws in Patent Office’s proposed rules,” THE HILL, accessed July 7, 2024, https://thehill.com/opinion/congress-blog/3998683-congressional-hearing-exposes-fatal-flaws-in-patent-offices-proposed-rules/
The USPTO receives more than half a million patent applications every year and grants 350,000 of them annually. In a perfect world, each patent would be well-examined, describe unique inventions, and meet all relevant statutory checks on overpatenting — but the world isn’t perfect. Patents are frequently granted without meeting baseline, but hard-to-administer, standards, leading to significant legal disputes and economic harm. Opportunistic shell companies — for-profit non-practicing entities (NPEs) run by lawyers — acquire these patents and sue productive companies to extract a tax on innovation. The outcome is thousands of meritless lawsuits and waste, as businesses are often faced with a decision to settle with their accusers or go through the high expense of fighting back in court.