Tech Trends: Will the Patent War go Nuclear?
By Rob Scott
August 22, 2011
August 22, 2011
- Tech companies are spending from $400K -$750K per patent. This is money companies are not spending on innovation or jobs.
- Writing for InfoWorld, Bill Snyder makes the analogy to problems with the high costs of healthcare due to money spent defending against medical malpractice. He points out that while the “patent arms race goes nuclear,” not only will new tech jobs not be created, but existing jobs will be lost.
- “Think what Google could do with $6 billion, writes Snyder. “Think of the research that would spawn new products, advance innovation, and create who knows how many thousands of good jobs up and down the technology food chain. Instead, that money is going to buy patents.”
- Snyder indicates more patent buyouts are on the way. “Everyone knows what an arms race is. One side builds a new weapon, and the other side has to match it. Then the first side builds an even more powerful weapon, prompting the other guy to build more and so on. Remember how well that worked out for the Soviet Union?”
2 Comments
There needs to be serious patent reform. If more money is going to patent protection, and away from R&D, innovation will suffer.
There needs to be serious patent reform. If more money is going to patent protection, and away from R&D, innovation will suffer.
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