OECD: Patents and Innovation -- Trends and Policy Changes

From the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's "Patents and Innovation: Trends and Policy Changes" --

Economic evaluation suggests that there are further possible directions of change for patent regimes that are worth exploring. Possible avenues for economic-based reforms of patent regimes include introducing a more differentiated approach to patent protection that depends on specific characteristics of the inventions, such as their life cycle or their value (as opposed to the current uniform system); making patent fees commensurate to the degree of protection provided; and developing alternatives to patenting, such as the public domain. In the near future, the patent system will be facing even greater challenges than those it has confronted in the past two decades, including increased globalisation, the overwhelming use of Internet as a vehicle of diffusion, and expanded innovation in services. Well-informed and more global policies will be needed to prepare the patent system to meet these new challenges, so that it can continue to fulfil its role of encouraging innovation and technology diffusion.

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