The Patent Puzzle | A Brief History | Privatize the
Process? |
Open Source and Patent
Collaboration | The View from the Bench
Privatize the Process?
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Such a system would need strong government regulations to maintain strict standards. “You would have to make sure there’s not a race to the bottom where firms get more business because they approve everything,” says Duffy.
Chief Judge Michel has his doubts. “It’s certainly true that if you bring enough quality resources to bear, you’ll have faster, better action, but I think the Patent Office is where it ought to be done. It’s hard enough to have patent quality monitored there. To have some government agency certifying a whole bunch of private companies competing with one another might be hard to do in practice, and perhaps even more expensive.”Duffy’s and Michel’s views reflect differences on infrastructure, but not about the ultimate goal. “Everybody agrees that we’d be better off with a system that is faster and produces higher quality,” says Duffy. “My point is that if you want speed and efficiency, a large government bureaucracy should not be your immediate choice. I think Judge Michel is being more realistic in thinking that outsourcing is not now politically possible and the only solution is to expand the size of the bureaucracy. In the short run, I think he may be right about that, but I’m an academic so I get to think about the possibilities for truly novel long-run reforms.”