Congress is weakening patents and threatening to kill the innovation economy

By Adam Mossoff and Mark Schultz in The Hill

Would you invest untold hours and thousands if not millions of dollars in developing new property where the rules change every few years? Where savvy lobbying and PR campaigns stampede political leaders into reducing the value of your property in a matter of months?

Unfortunately, this increasingly describes the U.S. patent system. In 2011, Congress enacted the America Invents Act (the AIA), widely recognized as the largest change to the U.S. patent system since 1836. Two years later, the House has just passed HR 3309, yet another vast overhaul of the patent system, creating numerous new rules for how all patented innovation is used, licensed and litigated against infringers.

Much of the AIA is not yet fully tested and implemented. So, why the rush?