🚀 go-pugleaf

It is precisely the small-time operators without large financial
backing that benefit the most from patent protection.

First off, you make it sound as if it costs a fortune to obtain
a patent.  That is simply not true.  Even pricey patent law firms
would charge you somewhere from a couple of grand to somewhere in the
mid to high teens.  If that is a lot of money, then the invention
must not be worth all that much in the first place.

And where do you get a couple of grand in the first place?  You have
a full year from the first day you sell your invention until the day
you file your patent application.  Again, if you don't make enough
to pay a few grand for a patent, then what's the gripe?  If you need
money in order to produce your product before you can sell the product
in order to get the money to obtain the patent, you can license it
even before you get the patent.  In fact, if a prospective licensee wants
to see you get a patent before he will cough up the cash so that you
can manufacture the invention, then you are in one of the few situations
in which the PTO will grant your application special status and expedite
examination of your application.

Most of the patents filed in this country are filed by small businesses.
That's where the innovation is.  Large organizations tend to stifle
innovation (yes, there are a few exceptions), and whenever possible
large organizations are able to knock-off and more effectively market
the little guy's product unless the little guy has some way to stop
them.  Heck, if any company with less than 500 employees gets a 50%
discount from the PTO on most of the fees relating to obtaining a
patent.  I can't see where there is any great financial barrier to
anyone obtaining patent protection on a worthwhile invention.
-- 
                                                John Berryhill, Ph.D.