Fixed Patent Rate

One possible way to solve the patent problem is barrow some ideas from the recording industry. When you sell a technology item, you pay a fixed percent of the sales revenue as a kind of "patent tax". This protects you from any patent complaints on the product. It moves the litigation burden and uncertainty away from manufacturers and vendors and puts it on the patent holders making a share claim for the given product. Patent holders would place their claims against products being sold to get some of the allocated patent tax revenue. If other patent holders dispute a given holder claim (which would diminish their slice size), they sue the other claimer(s), or reach a settlement, such as a reduced slice.

To apply for a slice, an existing patent holder would submit a standard form that describes why their patent applies along with a small filing fee. The patent office would give it a rudimentary check-over and then assign an even slice to the holder if it passes. Most of the policing of mis-applied patents would be from other slice holders who don't want their "shares" diminished. The vendor or manufacturer need not worry or care about these disputes because his/her fee rate is fixed regardless of the outcome. Whether his/her fee portion is divided 2 ways or 80, it won't matter to him/her.

Perhaps the fixed-rate option should be optional. However, once one commits to one plan or the other (traditional vs. fixed rate), they can't switch. Switching would result in gaming the system.

Note that the process of obtaining a patent would not necessarily change. It is the revenue approach that changes.

Also note that this would not necessarily diminish total lawsuits regarding patents. What it does is let producers and vendors move forward creating and selling products without fear of litigation and surprise patents. It reduces a barrier between producers and consumers, especially for little guys who cannot afford big-time lawyers.

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CategoryIdeaSpace, CategoryLegal