Really, there is no contest.
The IP Section of the Colorado Bar Association, in conjunction with Silicon Flatirons hosted a debate between representatives from the Obama and McCain campaigns today in Denver. Jonathan Alter, a columnist and editor for Newsweek moderated the discussion between attorneys Ed Reines and Ray Gifford representing the McCain campaign and professors Christopher Sprigman and Arti Rai representing the Obama campaign.
When I was a practicing engineer at a big company, several of my invention disclosures found their way to patent attorneys. I was fortunate enough to work with a good one and a bad one, although at the time I could not distinguish between the two.
Prior art patents offer a wealth of information that goes untapped for virtually all inventors. There is a very small minority of inventors that actually search other patents looking for ideas.
One reason for such a minority is that searching prior art patents is a very difficult task, and one that should be much easier than it is.
Software that is patented and open source software both accomplish many of the same goals. The patent, however, satisfies these goals better in three ways.
There is a lot of political pressure to rescind patent protection for various technologies, in particular software and biotech. Much of this is coming from groups such as ffii.org in Europe and elsewhere.
A common argument is that patents cause higher prices for drugs, such as HIV-related drugs that save lives. Often, those in poor countries cannot afford the prices for the drugs. The fact that these people even have the opportunity to get life-saving drugs is solely the benefit of having a good patent system and by companies who patent their ideas and products.
