Intellectual Property in the Coming Trump Administration

Throughout its history, America has been the most innovative country in the world. America’s Founding Fathers created a unique patent system that encouraged this innovation. That patent system has been weakened over the last two decades, particularly under President Biden. President Trump and Congress must fix the patent system soon to make America great again.

A patent grants to its holder the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling an invention in the United States or importing the invention into the United States. Anyone producing or selling an invention within the U.S. must first get permission from the patent holder, typically the inventor or the party to whom the inventor has assigned the patent.

The legal basis for the U.S. patent law is found in the Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution. The Founding Fathers intended to protect individuals and small companies from the financial power of large companies. They considered patents to be so important that they passed the Patent Act of 1790 even before passing the Bill of Rights.

In recent times, some people have begun to argue that patents inhibit innovation rather than support it. These arguments come mainly from large, established companies and their agents, including politicians from both major political parties. While there are many studies that show that patents actually increase innovation, the proof is very simple. The U.S. has had the strongest patent protections for over two centuries and inventors have flourished here. Furthermore, women entrepreneurs used patent protection to run successful businesses long before they got the right to vote. Before the Civil War, successful black inventors used the revenues from their businesses to buy other blacks out of slavery and to support the abolitionist movements.

How has the patent system changed in the last decade and how will it change under the new Trump administration?