The article discusses the importance of patent reliability in attracting investments, particularly in advanced technologies like Quantum Computing and genetic medicine. Current challenges include frequent patent invalidations, which deter investment by venture capital firms and complicate corporate R&D. This situation contrasts with approaches taken by China and European nations, where patent systems provide more clarity and stability. A call for reducing claim scope to enhance reliability is suggested as a means to encourage innovation and secure the necessary funding for predominantly risky tech ventures.
Once claim scope is reduced until commensurate with the scope of disclosure, everything becomes easier, including analysis under section 103. Better still, defendants would not be sued on overbroad claims and owners would benefit because patents would become more reliable and invalidation rarer.
Patents require reliability so they can incentivize investments in new technologies, their primary though little-noticed function. Today, U.S. patents are so often invalidated that investors such as venture capital firms are losing trust in them.
Corporate CEOs face the same problem: your right to exclude others from copying your invention can instantly and unpredictably evaporate at any point in the patent's 20-year lifespan. As a result, our nation faces a crisis of underinvestment in the advanced technologies of the 21st Century.
Both external and corporate funders assess risks they face in light of possible later rewards from successful products. Only if the risks are low enough do they make the upfront investments in R&D.
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