Patent trolls are killing American innovation and making a mockery of our legal system. New Zealand saw the same problem happening and banned software patents altogether. Why can't we find a solution in the US?

Part of the problem is that the term ‘software patent’ has never been clearly defined by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nevertheless, the USPTO granted countless software-related patents in 90s, mostly for simple procedures or features that would come to be basic and commonplace by the 2000s—foundational elements of almost all modern technology. In the process, the office unknowingly crippled future innovation, lining the pockets of future patent trolls, who would learn to buy these exploitative patents, hide in the shadows, sue creative small businesses, all the while discouraging innovation in the process.

When tasked with defining software patents, former Director of the USPTO & Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property, David Kappos couldn’t do it. Instead, he gave a long, meandering speech that danced around the question and failed to arrive at a real definition. He acknowledges “that inconsistency in software patent issuance causes uncertainty in the marketplace and can cause threats of litigation that in turn can stifle innovation and deter new market entrants,” but hastens to cover the USPTO, arguing that “patents aren’t issued merely for lines of code” and that some patent protection for software is “every bit as well deserved" as traditional patents in other industries.

This is a classic tactic of obscuring what is a simple issue: the USPTO didn’t understand software in the 90s, granted scores of frivolous patents, and is trying to save face as thousands of entrepreneurs and small businesses are destroyed by the very patents themselves and the patent trolls that have found ways to exploit the system. The USPTO needs to realize that this is a crisis of human progress and innovation, not an opportunity for abstract political excuses.

At FindTheBest, we’re tired of politicians who agree there’s an issue but aren’t willing to take the actual steps to solve the problem. We urge congress to enact meaningful change: follow New Zealand’s example and ban software patents altogether.

Join our fight to abolish software patents and tell the U.S. Government that enough is enough.