HomeUploadUpload DirectHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle
Expand

The U.S. Patent System is Broken: Derek Khanna on Trolling and Low-Quality Patents

Views:860
@ReasonVids

Are current patent policies slowing innovation and infringing on economic liberties? Derek Khanna, a tech policy and intellectual property expert, says yes.

"A patent is a government-granted monopoly" that gives the owner sole right to profit from making or licensing a product, Khanna explains. "So effectively every week the government says, 'These are all the things that American citizens can't do for about the next 20 years.'"

Khanna's new paper, How to Fix Patents: Economic Liberty Requires Patent Reform, argues that patent policy and its abuse is failing to achieve its constitutionally enshrined purpose of "promoting the progress of the sciences and useful arts." This failure, he laments, has led to more monopolies and crony capitalism—the very opposite of the free-enterprise system the founders sought to protect.

James Madison warned us 200 years ago to guard patents and copyrights with “strictness against abuse.” Patent trolling, created and exacerbated by modern patent policy, is one manifestation of that abuse and is increasingly stifling competition, reducing innovation, and limiting potential economic growth. More than nearly any other instrument of government policy, getting patent policy right is critical to innovation and growing the economy.

If Americans want robust innovation and competition, then they must confront this cronyism in our midst and demand free markets and free competition without the government choosing winners and losers by granting patents for non-inventions. Less regulation will lead to more competition and more innovation.

Khanna recently sat down with Reason TV's Nick Gillespie to discuss patents, why you shouldn't be able to patent the shape of a cellphone and other obvious things, and why he believes the problems are reversible.

About 15 minutes.

Shot by Todd Krainin and Joshua Swain; edited by Amanda Winkler.

Subscribe to Reason TV and go to http://reason.com/reasontv/2015/06/17/patent-abuse-is-stifling-economic-growth for downloadable links.

free markets
,
free minds
,
reason (magazine)
,
patents
,
economics
,
liberty
,
innovation
,
constitution
    Thumbnail for DC's First Cat Café Opens (No Thanks to Regulators)3:57
    DC's First Cat Café Opens (No Thanks to Regulators)
    ReasonVids
    890 views
    Thumbnail for Law for Non-Lawyers: Precedent28:05
    Law for Non-Lawyers: Precedent
    IJvids
    898 views
    Thumbnail for Gangs in Control of American Prisons: "The Social Order of the Underworld"9:32
    Gangs in Control of American Prisons: "The Social Order of the Underworld"
    ReasonVids
    1053 views
    Thumbnail for Ai Weiwei's Hirshhorn Show Has Everything but the Dissident Artist Himself5:48
    Ai Weiwei's Hirshhorn Show Has Everything but the Dissident Artist Himself
    ReasonVids
    875 views
    Thumbnail for "The Cartel" Director Bob Bowdon on Education Reform7:06
    "The Cartel" Director Bob Bowdon on Education Reform
    ReasonVids
    874 views
    Thumbnail for Flyover beauties0:38
    Flyover beauties
    bestofvoatxyz
    378 views
    Thumbnail for NASA sharing what the sound of a black hole actually sounds like0:12
    NASA sharing what the sound of a black hole actually sounds like
    voatcatbox
    474 views
    Thumbnail for Bitcoin & The End of State-Controlled Money: Q&A with Jerry Brito2:21
    Bitcoin & The End of State-Controlled Money: Q&A with Jerry Brito
    ReasonVids
    964 views
    Thumbnail for ఆ కార్యం కూడా లైవ్‌ పెట్టురా LIVE | Transgender Madhuri Fires On Lady Aghori Varshini Marriage|BIGTV11:55:00
    ఆ కార్యం కూడా లైవ్‌ పెట్టురా LIVE | Transgender Madhuri Fires On Lady Aghori Varshini Marriage|BIGTV
    invidious
    95 views
    Thumbnail for හිරු සවස 6.55 ප්‍රධාන ප්‍රවෘත්ති විකාශය - Hiru TV NEWS 6:55 PM LIVE | 2025-04-17 | Hiru News40:50
    හිරු සවස 6.55 ප්‍රධාන ප්‍රවෘත්ති විකාශය - Hiru TV NEWS 6:55 PM LIVE | 2025-04-17 | Hiru News
    invidious
    71 views
    Thumbnail for Federal Education Policy with  Former Assistant Secretary of Education Bill Evers7:20
    Federal Education Policy with Former Assistant Secretary of Education Bill Evers
    ReasonVids
    903 views
    Thumbnail for The Conservatarian Manifesto: Should Libertarians & Conservatives Unite?25:27
    The Conservatarian Manifesto: Should Libertarians & Conservatives Unite?
    ReasonVids
    966 views
    Thumbnail for Overpopulation is a Myth: Q&A with Misconception Filmmaker Jessica Yu9:35
    Overpopulation is a Myth: Q&A with Misconception Filmmaker Jessica Yu
    ReasonVids
    924 views
    Thumbnail for Israel is one of our most aggressive adversaries when with regards to our counter-intelligence programs19:16
    Israel is one of our most aggressive adversaries when with regards to our counter-intelligence programs
    bestofvoatxyz
    879 views
    Thumbnail for Can Bitcoin Survive a Hard Fork? Xapo's Wences Casares on Block Size and Bitcoin's Future10:04
    Can Bitcoin Survive a Hard Fork? Xapo's Wences Casares on Block Size and Bitcoin's Future
    ReasonVids
    900 views
    Thumbnail for Eminent Domain Gone Wild - Part Two4:36
    Eminent Domain Gone Wild - Part Two
    ReasonVids
    906 views
    Thumbnail for Video of New Orleans truck attack.0:10
    Video of New Orleans truck attack.
    bestofupgoat
    114 views
    Thumbnail for I can never miss | Element X but Shorter0:47
    I can never miss | Element X but Shorter
    invidious
    333 views
    Thumbnail for Gourmet Salt is Crazy Expensive, Unless You Can Make it Yourself... (massive flakes) | Alex13:12
    Gourmet Salt is Crazy Expensive, Unless You Can Make it Yourself... (massive flakes) | Alex
    invidious
    373 views
    Thumbnail for Stossel: Departments Grow and Cherries Rot3:29
    Stossel: Departments Grow and Cherries Rot
    ReasonVids
    900 views
    Thumbnail for The Flaw of Averages: Sam L. Savage On Why We Underestimate Risk in the Face of Uncertainty4:31
    The Flaw of Averages: Sam L. Savage On Why We Underestimate Risk in the Face of Uncertainty
    ReasonVids
    867 views
    Thumbnail for Stossel: Live Free at Sea5:07
    Stossel: Live Free at Sea
    ReasonVids
    709 views

points

Permalink
Reply
free markets
,
free minds
,
reason (magazine)
,
patents
,
economics
,
liberty
,
innovation
,
constitution
TOS  •  Add Keywords  •  Donate  •   Analytics  •   DMCA  •   Puzzle