The Biggest Job Creator You Never Heard Of: The Patent Office

[Renew Deal]

As the U.S. President and Congress desperately search for ways to regain the 8.4 million jobs lost during the current recession, the greatest opportunity of all to spur job growth in our stalled economy may ironically lie right under their noses: in the Patent Office.

For all its obscurity within the bowels of the federal bureaucracy, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) may be the single greatest facilitator of private sector job creation and economic growth in America. It is this agency, after all, that issues the patents that small businesses — especially technology startups — need to attract venture capital investment, develop new products and services, and serve their historic role as the primary source of almost all new net job growth in America. According to one recent study, 76 percent of startup executives say that patents are essential to their funding efforts.

Unfortunately, the diversion of hundreds of millions of dollars in USPTO fees over the years and inadequate funding levels have left the patent office with an unprecedented backlog of 1.2 million patent applications waiting to be examined. The result, says David Kappos, the new USPTO director, has been catastrophic.

"Hundreds of thousands of groundbreaking innovations are sitting on the shelf literally waiting to be examined," he told an audience at a biotechnology industry conference this week. " jobs not being created, life-saving drugs not going to the marketplace, companies not being funded, businesses not being formed."

How many jobs are not being created because of the patent backlog?

"Millions," said Kappos. Millions of jobs!
<snip>

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/05/the_biggest_job_creator_you_ne.html

[Ruby the Liberal]

1. Rec'd you back to 0

'FRiends' must be visiting. Who in hades would un-rec this bit of news?

*sigh*

[On the Road]

3. I Know -- I Did the Same Thing

Only thing I can think of is that it was from the Harvard Business Review (which is a good publication BTW). Who the hell knows?

[Ruby the Liberal]

4. Who honestly gives a fuck who published it

story is about "job creation" and "job creators". You know, those elusive creatures hiding under rocks and all...

People these days just make me wonder if we will eventually survive as a species.

I think I will hit Netflix up for Idiocracy again. Just to confirm it isn't just you, me, and the other handful of sane people left in this world.




Edit for typo

[Renew Deal]

8. There's a few of us that post HBR Blog posts and there's usually no issue.

The HBR isn't as right wing as people think.

[Renew Deal]

7. There are people that want to mindlessly cut funds

But the Patent Service is important and it's funds have been raided.

[On the Road]

2. I Didn't Know That About the Biotech Industry

The PTO obvously needs to be expanded. Shows the futility of the idea that government never creates jobs and has to be defunded.

[Wilms]

5. ^

[rucky]

6. I bet multinationals can get to the top of the pile.

and we know how much they hate free-market competition.

K&R

[Renew Deal]

9. I was wondering about something along those lines.

Who benefits by the underfunding of the patent office?