While addressing an audience in Washington, the director of the Patent and Trademark Office in United States expressed concern over rising instances of patent wars in the smartphone industry. Patents are being progressively used as a point of contest in legal battles being fought between major smartphones companies worldwide.
The Director, David J. Kappos, while delivering a speech in Washington at the Center for American Progress, stated that claims over smaller patents, mostly software patents concerning features in products are being used by smartphone companies against each other to gain leverage, resulting in legal battles all over the world in the industry. He is of the opinion that the explosion of innovation with respect to software and hardware in the market for electronic products and the litigations that follow reflect the importance of the patent system in the process of innovation, with innovators constantly trying hard to protect their innovations. Patent wars, therefore, serve more like a feature and less like a bug in the software industry.
Kappos, appointed as the director of the patent office in the year 2009, has effectively been able to help the agency address challenges and cope with the increasing arrivals of patent applications. This year alone, around 550,000 patent applications are known to have flown in. A midst all of this, the agency has been able to successfully deal with the backlog of patent applications and slower the turnout rate among patent examiners. With respect to software patents, Kappos pointed out that these patents should be designed with care to ensure protection from broad claims by competitors in the future. Inconsistencies in issuing software patents can spark off uncertainty in the market leading to increase in litigations, stifling innovation and consequently deterring the entry of new players in the market, admitted Kappos.
The US Patent Office had conducted an internal study centered on patents spoken off in most high-profile legal proceedings among major competitors in the smartphone market. Of all the cases, 80 percent of the patents were declared to be valid according to the rulings of the courts. The ruling wherein Apple won $1 billion in compensation against Samsung in the month of August this year has been the most remarkable one, as yet.
