
The U.S. Is Losing Its Lead in Patents - vaksel
http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/apr2009/id20090422_521441.htm
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makecheck
I would not use the patent system as a metric anymore. There are so many
dubious and outright laughable patents. There is so much misuse of patents to
(ironically) hamper real innovations in competitors. And so much important
work is difficult to have any meaningful patent on, like software.

Here are things that _have_ caused a loss of innovation leadership. Lousy
education. A _ridiculous_ immigration policy. A tendency for companies
to...outsource R&D, and generally take short-cuts on things that are important
enough to not be half-assed in the name of "cost savings".

