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U.S. Patent System Financially Devastated Black People
Create a patent system to create generational wealth for Black people
Article I Section 8, Clause 8 of the U.S. Constitution, known as the Patent and Copyright Clause, states that Congress shall have the power
“to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.”
The purpose of the clause was twofold.
First, to encourage and promote innovation so that the U.S. would lead the world in progress.
And second, to award the creators of innovation with the right to have a legal monopoly over the invented technology for a long period of time. Today that protection lasts 20 years from the date the application is filed.
If you own a patent, you can prevent anyone else from producing and selling products with the same technology. Powerful stuff!
That’s why the allergy medication Claritin, taken by millions, wasn’t available in generic form from competitors until the patent, originally filed in 1980, expired in 2002. Before then, customers had to buy it from the owners of the patent. As a result, the makers of Claritin made billions a year from the…
