Poor patent quality spikes litigation, decks innovation, and destroys the patent system.
Li Liu ’24 [March 18, 2024; Li works at Oxford Intellectual Property Research Centre, St. Catherine’s College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. “Patent Quality: A Critique of the State of the Discussion,” IIC - International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law; Volume 55, p. 499–529; https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40319-024-01444-w]
Despite having been debated for decades, the issue of patent quality is fraught with controversy. This issue garnered considerable scholarly attention in the United States (US) in the 1990s due to concerns that the increasing volume of so-called “low-quality patents” would undermine innovation. Footnote1 Similar complaints later also gained momentum in the European Union (EU), although its examination process and litigation are considered to be relatively superior.Footnote2 These heated debates propagated worldwide concerns regarding patent quality. Following decades of global debate, most scholars have reached a consensus that low patent quality generates devastating social costs, including stifling innovation, undermining the patent system, raising transaction costs by encouraging more infringement and litigation, and diverting resources away from true innovators.