Patents Are To Protect Innovation
The role of a patent is to guarantee an inventor some reward for their invention and creativity. We want to encourage individuals and corporations to bring great new ideas to market. The real job of the patent is to benefit the American people by rewarding those who deliver positive change to our lives. Unfortunately, nowadays, patents can be used to stifle innovation by “stealth patenters” who patent every idea that comes through their head in as vague terms as possible, and then wait to see an idea on the market that resembles their patent. At that point, they sue. Case in point, NTP’s successful legal battle against RIM, makers of the Blackberry e-mail device. NTP is a holding company that has owned some of the patents in question since 1995. Did NTP ever plan to launch a service like Blackberry? Don’t know. There’s scant information available since they are just a holding company. 50 patents, no products. I ask you, how does that benefit the American people? We should be rewarding the “doers”, not the dreamers.
