“It’s only about $5,000 for an individual to get a patent, about $10,000 for a corporation. “
Without the money to defend the patent in court its not worth the paper its written on. Likewise some company can use the courts to whack startups who don’t have the money to defend their product from bogus patent infringement lawsuits.
Yes. That is an abuse of the system. I used to work in the same building as the “King of the Submarine Patents”.
What a character! He came in as a consultant, developed a process under contract with us, using our materials and facilities, then patented the technique and tried to sue us for violating “his” patent!
Barry’s main source of income was a number of patent applications he had pending but on hold. As soon as anyone would commercialize an idea, his application would go off hold and he’d get the patent and settle out of court for some fee and royalties.
The USPTO ultimately ended up changing their rules because of him...