by Heather Frey
Introduction
The plethora of topics touched on by United States’ patent law makes a discussion of its futures an overwhelming challenge. This provocation is exacerbated by the current discourse surrounding patents, which either focuses on the subject area being patented1 or the processes involved in obtaining a patent.2 These approaches are symptoms of the common evolutionary theory known as punctuated equilibrium. According to this theory, “we go through vast periods of stasis in which the status quo rules, and then once in a great while, profound disruption occurs” (O’Brien 2012). U.S. patent law has been a great example of this evolutionary theory from the political landscape.(continue…)