One of my patent reform ideas is that patents must be used. If left fallow (production under a certain amount) for too long, bam, it hits the public domain, or back to the originator.
Or just make it a couple years. If you can't profit handsomely off your idea in a couple years, then it's probably more efficient for society as a whole to be allowed to work on it.
Ig you remove the incentive, why would they pay to do the research in the first place?
There is a gulf of value between "literal cure for cancer" and, like, some basic consumer good. Most things do not exist at either extreme end. Not all things worth doing are wildly profitable.
I'm talking about a hypothetical world where the lifetime of a patent is only, say, 5 years. That's a much shorter window to recoup expenses, and thus many projects that are financially justifiable in the current environment would not be.
