Public Patent Foundation

Many patents granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office are undeserved. They are granted for several reasons, including that the Patent Office was not aware of significant prior art (knowledge already in the public domain), that the Patent Office's employees are not given sufficient time and resources to do an effective screening of patent applications and that the rules regarding how patents are granted are skewed through perverse patent policy to favor applicants. Undeserved patents injure the public because they can be used by private actors to preclude activity that would otherwise be permissible, if not desirable. This causes prices for goods to be artificially high, the advancement of science to be thwarted, and civil liberties to be inappropriately restrained. Most people still do not realize how significantly undeserved patents and unsound patent policy are assailing their health, their freedoms, and their wallets. The pharmaceutical and information technology industries are full of markets hampered by undeserved patents. Similarly, free speech, privacy, and other individual liberties are increasingly being threatened by undeserved patents, especially as daily life becomes more technologically dependent. Unfortunately, the interests of the public to be free from undeserved patents and unsound patent policy are not adequately represented. As such, there is great need for a public service organization to represent those interests. PUBPAT is that organization.