In the past decade, the patent system has been turned on its head.  Inventors are now villainized as cartoon characters called patent trolls simply because they assert their hard-earned patent rights against corporations who steal their inventions.  These infringing corporations have cleverly cultivated the myth that all patent owners are patent trolls by engaging high-powered lobbyists and public relations firms to loudly attack inventors.  This toxic concoction of myth, media and money has gagged opposing voices effectively creating political cover for the government to make rapid and fundamental changes to patent law that skew the field toward big corporations at the expense of inventors and small innovation companies, including those high tech start-ups that are responsible for creating high paying jobs.

The Obama Administration, the courts and Congress have destabilized the patent system for the least able to withstand instability – inventors and small innovation companies. A quagmire of confusing and contradictory law has rendered tens of thousands of legally and rightfully granted patents to become unenforceable.  These changes are certainly riding the system of those who abuse the litigation process for profit, but not without slaughtering an entire generation of inventors and innovative companies along with them.

To read the rest of the article by Paul Morinville and Gene Quinn on what’s damaging the patent system, click here.