Publication

This report provides an account of the suitability of the US patent system to compete on the global economic stage. The author recognizes the importance of patent protection for innovation but also warns against blind adherence to the mantra that more protection will necessarily produce more innovation. He highlights the numerous friction points in the patent system and recommends policy options to smooth them out and to keep the US patent system competitive. While acknowledging concerns about patent infringement in emerging markets, he expresses deep skepticism of US efforts to harmonize patent standards through trade negotiations. In its place, he proposes a grand bargain in which the developed world requires emerging markets to enforce patents in exchange for agreeing to relax efforts to tighten global patent standards.