November 2023
Randy Landreneau (president, US Inventor; president, Complete Product Development) and Dirk Tomsin (director of projects, US Inventor; co-owner, CrossFit Untapped) gave us reason to think that our patent system is too unstable for individual inventors. Inventing and marketing a product take effort, insight, money, and time. Innovators want to be reimbursed or rewarded for their investment in helping others. Our government knows that a thriving economy depends on inventions. So to keep inventions coming, it rewards inventors with patents —legal protection from market competition for a limited time in exchange for sharing the invention with the public. This protection consists of courts and a legal structure that are meant to help inventors repel competitors. Innovators need this protection to be stable so they can estimate the costs, benefits, and risks of starting a new business. Unfortunately patents are too often unstable. Molly Metz ...