Patent Litigation Is No Laughing Matter… Or Is It?

As pointed out in my forthcoming Independent Institute book, Patent Trolls: Predatory Litigation and the Smothering of Innovation, the American patent system is in need of an overhaul. This is no laughing matter, but Stephen Colbert, in the following, recent segment from “The Colbert Report” on Comedy Central takes Amazon to task for claiming a patent over “a white background.” Yes, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office will grant a patent for just about anything. Enjoy a laugh, but realize that that such patent foolishness is costing our economy billions of dollars.

“In Patent Trolls, William Watkins provides a thorough, yet surprisingly concise and readable, description of one of the most serious problems facing technological innovators: patent litigation and patent trolls. Thoroughly researched and documented, this book should be read by all who are concerned about the decline in America’s competitiveness in the world market.”
—Alex Kozinski, Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

“Williams Watkins, Jr.’s Patent Trolls makes a powerful and urgent case for patent reform. Instead of fostering innovation, the current regime encourages legal artifice and extortion. Watkins’ proposals for common sense reforms should be the starting point for this vital national discussion for change.”
—Philip K. Howard, Founder and Chairman, Common Good; author, The Death of Common Sense: How Law is Suffocating America and Life Without Lawyers: Restoring Responsibility in America