The amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than that required to produce it.

—Brandolini’s Law (a.k.a. the Bullshit Asymmetry Principle)

The last 20 years of anti-patent sentiment require significant insight, data, and analysis to counter those who deride patents as bad for business.

“He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.”

—Thomas Jefferson

The Founding Fathers of America deeply believed in a Patent System.

“You don’t need a formal conspiracy when interest converges.”

—George Carlin, Comedian

Those with the most to lose are united in their efforts to undermine the Patent System.

“So if you ask me what the single lesson I learned was, liquidity equals value. You have no value if you have no liquidity.”

—Sam Zell, Lifelong Businessman and Investor

Ease of monetization is essential to fixing the Patent System.

“There is, in the perfect invention for the perfect moment, in the perfect context, there is real beauty. It is actual beauty, and it feels good. It’s emotional. It’s emotional for the inventor. It’s emotional for the team that builds it. It is emotional for the customer. It is a big deal and you can feel those things.”

—Jeff Bezos, Founder of Amazon on the Lex Friedman Podcast, December 2023

Invention is beautiful. Destroying invention is not.

“Picasso had a saying: ‘Good artists copy, great artists steal.’ And you know, we have always been shameless about stealing great ideas.”

—Steve Jobs, Founder of Apple (emphasis his)

It is always easier to take someone else’s invention than it is to create the invention in the first place.

“AOL remains deeply undervalued today despite the recent increase in stock price driven by the announced sale of a substantial majority of AOL’s patent portfolio to Microsoft Corporation for $1.056 billion.”

—Starboard Value investment fund to America Online board of directors, May 7, 2012

Once upon a time, Patents carried tremendous value in the market place. Then the AIA’s PTAB provision became law in 2013 and patent value has not been the same since.

“In my opinion, there is no ‘IP strategy’ in this current climate that can override deep pockets, malicious intent, a broken USA enforcement system, or premeditated strategies and budgets for intentional IP infringement and leverage of independent inventors like me.”

—Jacquelyn De Jesu, IP Advocate and Founder of SHHHOWERCAP

Direct testimony from an inventor and creator whose IP has been taken without reasonable compensation, which has lead to years of difficulties and legal battles.

“What do you call a thousand [corporate IP] lawyers chained together at the bottom of the ocean? A good start.”

—Andrew Beckett, Philadelphia, played by Tom Hanks

Corporate IP Lawyers act like gatekeepers when third-party patent owners seek compensation for unauthorized use. They are the reason patent litigation rates remain as high as they are, and C-Suite executives should empower internal corporate IP departments to pay for use, rather than wait to be sued.

“Private property is an extremely useful idea—arguably one of our greatest inventions. So far, each new definition of it has brought us increasing material wealth. It seems reasonable to suppose the newest one will too. It would be a disaster if we all had to keep running an obsolete version just because a few powerful people were too lazy to upgrade.”

—Paul Graham, “Defining Property,” essay, 2012

IP is private property. Or at least it should be. Venture capitalists, such as Paul Graham, should support inventors’ rights but have historically been known to dismiss IP rights.

“The AIA was supposed to be intended to have a faster, more cost effective way for an inventor to defend their patents. I should not have to be defending some of the same issues in parallel courts at the same time.”

—Carrie Hafermen, Inventor (via LinkedIn post)

The America Invents Act is not operating as intended.

"The nation badly needs new highways. The good of our people, of our economy, and of our defense, requires that construction of these highways be undertaken at once.”

—President Dwight Eisenhower, written to Congress in 1955

A technologically relevant Patent System is necessary to restore a balanced economy. We need leadership that recognizes that Patents and IP are part of American Infrastructure that desperately needs investment.