Robert Taylor
President Biden recently warned that America is losing its technological edge. “We used to rank number one in the world in research and development,” he said. “Now, we rank number nine. China was number eight decades ago; now they are number two. And other countries are closing in fast.”
The president’s concerns are fully justified, but neither he nor Congress is addressing the problem. Indeed, both are moving in the opposite direction.
If current trends continue, our biggest geopolitical rivals will soon leave this nation in their dust in the race for technological supremacy. This will have disastrous consequences for many strategically critical technologies for years to come. The blame rests largely with politicians working systematically and intentionally to weaken the U.S. patent system — the greatest engine for technological progress ever devised.
Patents reward innovation by giving inventors exclusive rights to their own ideas and creations for a limited time, after which those inventions become available for everyone to use. Without strong, enforceable patents, there is little reason to invest billions of dollars and decades of labor in bringing new technology to the market. Why bother if a competitor, once the invention is proven to work, can steal the fruits of that effort and sell the same product without having to incur the cost of development?
If America is to retain its leadership in technological progress, it is imperative that our political leaders protect and strengthen the country’s patent system. Instead, they do precisely the opposite, even as competitor nations worldwide move rapidly to fortify and strengthen their own patent systems.