Abstract: Does patent law really promote progress and innovation? More importantly, does it benefit society in general? Does it cause a major injustice? This Essay looks at the purported benefits of patent law, examines whether they are really benefits, and then compares them with the harm that it does. Progress and innovation are not the same thing, and innovation facilitated by the patent system limits our freedoms. This Essay rebuts the arguments in favor of keeping the patent system, and ultimately concludes that patent law should be abolished. To think clearly about patent law, we must first reject the misguided tendency to lump it together with many other disparate laws under the term “intellectual property.” Those who fancy that term apply it to ten or more laws, most of which are unrelated and have little in common. U.S. copyright law does have one very general point in common with U.S. patent law—one sentence in the Constitution1—but that doesn’t apply to the rest of these laws. Notwithstanding those facts, use of the term “intellectual property” leads many to suppose that all of these laws are similar. Even law professors are led to disregard facts they know when they make generalizations using that term. For instance it is quite common to say that “intellectual property laws are meant to promote innovation,” even though copyright law and trademark law are not concerned with innovation at all.2 Patent law is concerned with innovation, but the
Publication Year: 2013
Publication Date: 2013-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 1
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