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Patent Litigation: Critics at Wired believe that the amount of patent litigation and patent infringement claimed has created a "disastrous environment for innovation." [http://www.wired.com/2012/11/ff-steven-levy-the-patent-problem/ (Wired)] Litigation and lawsuits may result in a significant decrease in product development. In 2015, Google and Apple invested more in supporting patent purchases and litigation than in R&D.[http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/08/technology/patent-wars-among-tech-giants-can-stifle-competition.html?_r=0 (NYT-PW)] Additionally, "junk patents" are a source of contention as HBR suggests they lead to pointless trials. The technology industry often suffers of overly broad patents, which also may lead to pointless litigation. Amazon has successfully patented buying things with one-click in the United States, and Apply has claimed ownership of rounded-edged, rectangular-shaped communication devices on which icons are arranged in a grid with a row of persistent icons at the bottom.
Rapidly Growing Industries: The biotechnology industry as a whole provides new ethical challenges to the patent system and introduces new competitive threats such as me-too drugs. Me-too drugs are approved after a pioneering drug and drugs to function as substitutes substitute products [http://www.who.int/intellectualproperty/topics/ip/Me-tooDrugs_Hollis1.pdf (WHO)].Limiting the scope of discoveries that can be patented in biotechnology is an ongoing issue. The DOJ's declaration that genes may not be patented in a case dealing with Myriad Genetics and the University of Utah Research Foundation resulted in sharp public criticism in 2010. [http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/02/health/02gene.html?_r=0]
==Patent Pools==
