The Patent Litigation Crisis

Patent and copyright protection are included in the U.S. Constitution as a way to safeguard scientific and commercial innovations, as well as books, movies, music and other creative products. But, unlike laws protecting personal property, the copyright and patent laws are supposed to “promote the progress of science and useful arts.”

The need to shield innovations today is no less important than it was generations ago, when such inventions as the cotton gin, the steam engine, and steel manufacturing did so much to fuel the product.....