Letter to the Editor from Beau Phillips in response to The Economist article

The patents process is fair

This originally appeared in The Economist

Rolling back the advances that have been made in America’s patent system (“The trouble with patent-troll hunting”, December 14th) would only reduce fairness and vastly increase the cost of patent disputes. You pointed to the example of a small firm with “no in-house lawyers” that has run up expensive bills defending the validity of its asserted patents before the us Patent and Trademark Office. Yet these inter partes reviews are fair, highly successful administrative proceedings created by Congress in 2011.

In fact, the uspto process costs less than litigating the issues in federal court. Small businesses, often manufacturers, rely on these more cost-effective administrative proceedings to avoid the crushing costs of litigation when patents of dubious validity are brought against them. Reducing the cost of a meritorious patent challenge, and clarifying the standards of patentability, improve the patent system by making it more efficient, thereby reducing the opportunity for rent-seeking behaviour. It has been estimated that reviews before the uspto have reduced the cumulative cost of patent litigation by billions of dollars.

Beau Philips
Executive director
US-MADE
Washington, DC