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from the fighting-against-the-tide-is-tiring dept.
TechDirt reports
[...] The past few USPTO directors had been cut from the "more patents is always a good thing" mold, whereas Lee actually recognized that bad patents harmed innovation. And even though the last time the Patent Office got concerned about bad patents it allowed the patent approval backlog to fill up, under Lee the backlog has reached its lowest point in a decade.[paywall]
[...] For all the craziness going on in the government right now, having competent leadership at the USPTO would be one less thing to worry about. But... now it's being reported that Lee has suddenly resigned and sent a goodbye email to staff. That's bad news on the patent front.
Of course, it may be ages before any new director is appointed. As I type this, of the 559 key positions requiring Senate confirmation, Trump hasn't even named a nominee for 431 of them. [...] Adding the new USPTO director to that pile may mean no new USPTO director for.... who the hell knows how long.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 07 2017, @05:21PM (2 children)
Many companies do all they can to prevent their drugs from going generic because it eats at their profit. Less profit means less ROI, which means less investment/R&D.
Lack of patent protection would make most companies drop their small molecule programs (that are easily copied) because they will not be able to recoup their costs once they get approval.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday June 07 2017, @06:06PM (1 child)
So, Big Pharma drops their R&D. We still have the universities. Even if the big corporations just cease and desist from all research and development, said R&D won't simply stop, for all time. No, it won't be the end of life as we know it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 08 2017, @04:07AM
Academic discoveries (R&D) only account for ~15% of new drugs (link above). Development (R&D) is basically entirely done by companies.
The world won't end, but someone would have to pay the very large development bill if we want new therapies.