If there were a political candidate whose sole platform was "dismantle the US Patent Office," I could look past almost any other position in my conviction to vote for them. That's how harmful I believe the current patent system to be. Innovators should not be afraid to be sued over trivial implements by non-practicing entities before they can even get their business off the ground. Patents kill innovation, 100%.
The U.S. had a president not too long ago who tried to shake things up. Ended up giving the patent office truckloads of cash, considered it "job creation". Goal was to improve efficiency, but all it did was unthrottle submissions, and lower quality. On paper, it looked more efficient, apparently.
The U.S. also "harmonized" their patent laws with the rest of the world to reward paper-pushers who are "first to file", instead of those who are "first to invent." Should have been the other way around.
That with lowering submission fees and requirements drastically, those efforts basically turned the office into an even bigger joke.
Getting a patent means virtually nothing without enforcement and protection, and that requires litigation.
First to file has some advantages that are hard to ignore.
It incentivises early submission which means we all learn from it earlier.
It disincentivises submarine patents where one party deliberately hides an obvious invention until another market player has established a business and then proves they invented it first.
