{"id":5216,"date":"2017-03-28T14:53:57","date_gmt":"2017-03-28T14:53:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cpip.gmu.edu\/?p=5216"},"modified":"2026-02-03T20:59:56","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T20:59:56","slug":"lobbyists-continue-to-invoke-discredited-junk-science-to-push-patent-legislation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/ualawip\/2017\/03\/28\/lobbyists-continue-to-invoke-discredited-junk-science-to-push-patent-legislation\/","title":{"rendered":"[Archived Post] Lobbyists Continue to Invoke Discredited Junk Science to Push Patent Legislation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-5160 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/cip2.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2017\/03\/innovate_200x200.png\" alt=\"dictionary entry for the word &quot;innovate&quot;\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/ualawip\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1670\/2017\/03\/innovate_200x200.png 200w, https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/ualawip\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1670\/2017\/03\/innovate_200x200.png?resize=150,150 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/>It seems no matter how many times the mole gets whacked, it keeps popping back up. The latest incarnation of this problem is a recent <a href=\"http:\/\/thehill.com\/blogs\/pundits-blog\/lawmaker-news\/325673-congress-must-stand-with-innovators-against-patent-trolls\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">op-ed<\/a> by Katie Johnson of the National Association of Realtors, which relies on a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ipwatchdog.com\/2015\/11\/19\/repetition-of-make-them-true\/id=63302\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">long since discredited<\/a> study about the state of patent litigation in the United States.\u00a0 She goes on to make matters worse by using the <a href=\"https:\/\/cip2.gmu.edu\/2013\/03\/15\/the-shield-act-when-bad-economic-studies-make-bad-laws\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">highly misleading<\/a> \u201cpatent troll\u201d moniker and positively referring to an <a href=\"http:\/\/sls.gmu.edu\/cpip\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2014\/04\/Dolin-Abuse-of-PTO-Review-Programs.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">out of control bureaucracy<\/a> that is destroying patents at an alarming rate.<\/p>\n<p>Although Ms. Johnson cites only the $1.75 million estimate to defend a patent suit from the flawed study, the <a href=\"https:\/\/papers.ssrn.com\/sol3\/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2117421\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">entire study was flawed<\/a> from top to bottom. To achieve its desired result of blaming \u201ctrolls\u201d for high litigation costs, the study defined \u201ctrolls\u201d to include individual inventors, universities, startups, and even manufacturers who also license their patents. The study also ignores the benefits of the patent system for small business patent owners and inventors who must rely on litigation to stop piracy of their new innovation.<\/p>\n<p>It is important to set things right. Patent litigation is the mechanism by which property owners protect their rights.\u00a0 This has been true for all types of inventors throughout American history, including <a href=\"http:\/\/www.slate.com\/articles\/technology\/history_of_innovation\/2014\/05\/thomas_edison_charles_goodyear_and_elias_howe_jr_were_patent_trolls.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">such famous American innovators<\/a> as Thomas Edison, Charles Goodyear, and Elias Howe \u2013 all of whom are included in the \u201cpatent troll\u201d definition. For software patents specifically, these patents are <a href=\"http:\/\/sls.gmu.edu\/cpip\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2014\/04\/The-Commercial-Value-of-Software-Patents.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">highly valuable<\/a> for innovation.\u00a0 As CPIP founder <a href=\"https:\/\/cip2.gmu.edu\/about\/our-team\/adam-mossoff\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Adam Mossoff<\/a> has discussed at length previously, <a href=\"http:\/\/sls.gmu.edu\/cpip\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2013\/08\/A-Brief-History-of-Software-Patents-Adam-Mossoff1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">patent protection for software<\/a> inventions promotes innovation. It is important that every time someone uses junk science and rhetorical epithets to attack the patent system, we continue to\u00a0call this out for what it is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It seems no matter how many times the mole gets whacked, it keeps popping back up. The latest incarnation of this problem is a recent op-ed by Katie Johnson of the National Association of Realtors, which relies on a long since discredited study about the state of patent litigation in the United States.\u00a0 She goes [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3627,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[57,83,1065,1085],"class_list":["post-5216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-patent-trolls","tag-adam-mossoff","tag-patent","tag-patent-litigation-2"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/ualawip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/ualawip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/ualawip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/ualawip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3627"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/ualawip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5216"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/ualawip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15805,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/ualawip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5216\/revisions\/15805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/ualawip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/ualawip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uakron.edu\/ualawip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}