Shorten the patent term
A patent lasts for 20 years, beginning from the application's filing date. Often, the term is extended even longer to reflect the years it can take to obtain a patent. While 20 years might make sense when talking about inventions that take substantial investment—building factories and laboratories, for instance—software takes coders and computers. Hard work to be sure, but of a different type.
A patent covering software should survive for a term of five years, beginning from the date the application is filed. Even though international agreements could be read to require a 20-year term, we think there are ways around this. For example, it’s not clear those agreements even apply to software. Also, the proposal could be limited to U.S. inventors only.