Seeking to protect inventors, innovation and American jobs, eight top technology companies have joined together to form the High Tech Inventors Alliance (HTIA), dedicated to supporting balanced patent policy.
The alliance's members are Oracle, Dell, Google, Adobe, Intel, Salesforce, Amazon, and Cisco. According to the alliance, they own more than 115,000 U.S. patents and recognize the need of inventors to have a well-functioning patent system.
"Innovation means creating new and better products and services. It is fundamental to the success of the high-tech industry and its ability to drive economic growth and create American jobs," said John Thorne, the Alliance's general counsel and spokesperson. "Collectively our members spent $62.9 billion on research and development last year and they have over 447,000 employees here in the United States."
According to the alliance, examples of current dysfunction in the patent system include the crisis in patent quality, baseless patent assertions, and the chronic persistence of patent troll litigation, which has nearly tripled since 2005.
"When the patent system does not function well, it undermines rather than supports innovation, to the detriment of all Americans – inventors, employees, investors in productive businesses and ultimately, consumers,” said Thorne.
For more information, go to www.hightechinventors.com.