[Patents] reasons for explosion of patent application numbers

[phm@a2e.de (PILCH Hartmut)]

There has been some talk about the explosion of pat appl numbers worldwide
and one explanation is that this is largely due to the entry of new
countries such as India, which were pushed into the worldwide system
of extensive patenting by the TRIPS treaty.  Others say that more and
more people are inventing things, yet another hypothesis is that patents
are becoming increasingly easy to obtain for a broad range of ideas.
Maybe all are true, but we don't know to which extent they explain the
increase.

Here's an excerpt from a discussion on this subject.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 06:46:54 +0100 (CET)
From: PILCH Hartmut <phm@a2e.de>
Reply-To: intprop-l@topica.com
To: intprop-l@topica.com
Subject: Re: Open source as a job training model for Europe

> Take a look at
> http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/annual/1998/a98r-2.htm. Patent
> filings in the US are growing at a rate of 15-20%

That includes US patent filings from abroad, doesn't it?

> Could it be that the US is more inventive than most?  From the
> statistics I would say yes.

According to patent statistic, Japan is number one in inventiveness.

> That is not all the story though, for inventors from all over the
> world tend come to the US because they know know that the climate of
> inventor-entrepreneurs is better in the US.

Filing a patent in the US doesn't mean coming to the US.

> So the US tends to cause a significant brain drain from other
> countries.  If people like Hartmut succeed in lowering patent
> protection in Europe then the who European community will simply
> suffer even more brain drain.  This is good for the US, but I would
> hate to see this happen for it is not going to be good for your
> peoples over the long run.

I would expect the opposite to happen:  creative software developpers
leaving the US and coming to Europe, where we would be having a more
favorable climate.

Still, a certain brain drain toward the US is likely to continue for a
while in many fields, as the US is the biggest single-nation market with
the greatest natural ressources per person, a great influence on the rest
of the world and many superior conditions, compared especially to crowded
places like Europe and East-Asia.  It is often said that below-average
abilities are enough to succeed in the US, and this clichee has been
formed into nice films like "Forrest Gump".  There seems to be some truth
to it and it is quite independent of the patent system.  Trying to credit
the patent system with the superior conditions of the US climate is a
rather lame move.

> Also, The arts which are receiving the most patent activity change over
> time.  Right now biotech and software are very active areas with large
> annual increases in the number of patents filed.
>
> http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/corpplan/fy2002/AppendixA.pdf
>
> http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/corpplan/fy2002/Exhibit17.pdf
>
> http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/hearings/

Are there any fields where the annual number is falling ?

In spite of all these nice numbers, we still do not know whether the
explosion in numbers is due to the entry of new countries or to other
factors.

-- 
Hartmut Pilch                                         http://phm.ffii.org/
Protecting Innovation against Patent Inflation      http://swpat.ffii.org/
98000 signatures against software patents       http://www.noepatents.org/

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