Why Do States Need Patents In The First Place?
from the head-scratcher dept
The Software Information Industry Association is asking the Supreme Court to examine whether states are immune from patent infringement lawsuits. Lower courts have ruled that states are immune from patent infringement lawsuits. But at the same time, states apparently can obtain patents themselves and sue the very same private companies for patent infringement. The SIIA is asking the Supreme Court to level the playing field. It argues that if states are going around demanding licensing revenues for their own patents, it's not fair for them to turn around and claim sovereign immunity when they infringe other peoples' patents. That seems like a sensible argument to me, although I'm no lawyer.But the story brings to mind a more fundamental question: why are states allowed to obtain patents in the first place? The usual policy argument for patents is that they promote the common good by giving people incentives to invest in new technologies. But this argument doesn't really make sense when we're talking about a state government. States are already supposed to be spending taxpayer dollars to promote the common good, so they don't need extra incentives to do so. And they already have access to tens of billions of dollars through taxation, so they don't need a way to raise capital. If spending more taxpayer dollars on research promotes the common good, then states have the ability to do that regardless of whether they can get a patent for it. And if a new technology is developed with taxpayer dollars, all taxpayers should be allowed to use it without paying still more money in royalties.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: patents, sovereign immunity, state's rights
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
And while we're at it, I kinda think states shouldn't be spending enough money to research patent-worthy inventions, anyway. With Federal, it makes a lot more sense, DARPA and whatnot.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Patents for States - wrong
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
A better question is
They don't. See Against Intellectual Monopoly
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
State research is for the state's taxpayers
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: State research is for the state's taxpayers
This = fail.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
people win, companies lose
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: people win, companies lose
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
State patents...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Lack of accountability = fail
The lawyers may pocket a good deal of the proceeds, but state patents would also reduce the likelihood that patent hoarders patent the same thing and try to sue companies blind that would have otherwise licensed it from the state. Reduce the likelihood, as we have seen patents be granted with loads of prior art.
Whether state patents are good or not can definitely still be debated, but I'm not aware of any good arguments supporting the opinion that states should be responsible to entities in other states (barring federal funds).
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
States can be patent trolls, too
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]