“Peer to Patent”: A Proposal for Community Peer Review of Patents
Beth Simone Noveck[1]
Table of Contents
Part V: Conclusion
Peer to patent represents a fundamental rethinking of governance. By bringing collective intelligence to bear, in this case to reform the patent system, we can make bureaucratic “expertise” a reality. Through better design of both technology and process, we can realize the potential of the community to work together to increase national competitiveness, stimulate invention and create an incentive to innovation.
Patents represent a bargain between the public and the inventor. In exchange for the disclosure of the invention and enriching the marketplace of ideas and domain of scientific knowledge, the inventor receives the grant of monopoly rights. Until now, the patent examiner has brokered this bargain, standing in for the public. With peer patenting, we can expand the longstanding tradition of scientific peer review to allow the most relevant public, namely scientific, innovation and economic experts, to guard the domain of innovation. This approach points the way forward for rethinking the nature of government and the exercise of power in our democracy.