Pro Case

We affirm the resolution that on balance patents are more beneficial than harmful.

The burden for today’s debate is development. We should focus the question of patents
on industry growth broadly, and not individual products.

Advantage 1 is the Pharmaceutical Industry

Patents are key to the pharmaceutical industry:

First, Patents are necessary to attract investment - they empirically created a BOON in
the pharma market that makes up nearly 20% of all investment capital

Cockburn 2015 says

patents serve … important economic functions in biopharmaceuticals, developing robust

markets for technology and ‘signaling’ to potential investors …In addition to…new areas of
life sciences research, patent law developments made obtaining and enforcing patents for
genes and recombinant entities possible… and a venture capital industry emerged, supporting
early phase companies. Between 1980 and 2012, life sciences venture investments totaled
$108 billion…[which was] 19% of all US venture investment.

Second, Patents are key to University innovation

Grabowski 2015 reminds us that

Universities also play a key role in the R&D ecosystem because they conduct basic
biomedical research supported by sponsored research grants… Universities received only 390
patents for their discoveries in 1980, compared to 4,296 in 2011.

Third, investment costs are so large that patents are the only way to incentivize new
medicines

Mahdavi 2017 claims that

To create new…medications…somebody has to invest in research for them, and…it takes

around $2.6 billion and a ten-year time commitment to develop…a new prescription drug.
Without patents, certain pharmaceutical companies wouldn’t invest in research themselves
but… wait for another group to discover…the drug. Then… price the drug lower than their
competition.

We have 2 impacts:
First, Antibiotic resistance is on the rise and threatens public health globally. ONLY
recent innovations in patent protection have incentivized research

Grabowski 2015 says

health agencies have identified growing antibiotic resistance as a major health threat, but few
new antibiotics have been introduced….rising R&D costs… created a disincentive to
investment in developing new antibiotics. The…(GAIN) Act of 2012 was designed to
strengthen … antibiotic …drugs for life-threatening … infections....These include a five-year
extension of regulatory exclusivity from generic competition…Thirty-five antibiotics have
been designated…under the GAIN Act.

Second, new diseases are inevitable and threaten global instability – strong pharma is
key to keep up with mutations and prevent the next Covid-19.

Howard 2009 Explains:

Industrialization–and globalization…means…a microbe doesn’t have to wait to decimate

populations. …our hope rests with…capital markets. investors have interest in helping…treat
new plagues…[but] price controls, [leech] on innovation–pandemics may emerge, but…need
not ravage whole nations …companies must trust…market prices…If big pharma doesn’t get
its profits, all the basic science in the world won’t help us fight the next pandemic…staying
ahead of …rapidly evolving enemies demands that industry remain profitable…and
innovative.

Advantage 2 is Business Development

Patents offer several benefits to industries independent of the role of innovation,
including marketing and attracting investment capital

McLintock 2016 says

a patent application may bring enhanced marketing…applications … get picked up by trade

publications …as an indication that a company is pioneering a new technology….Other
benefits of a patent… include support for funding efforts, establishing first-mover claims,
strengthening freedom to operate positions, or illustrating a robust IP position underpinning a
business…Investors continue to evaluate IP portfolios … as impartial metrics in valuation
and investment decisions.

Patent protection is responsible for tech industry growth and overall innovation from
small businesses

Noonan 2007 claims

[If you] increase the cost of patenting…the extra burden falls most heavily on … small,
innovative start-ups…Without them…innovation will be the purview only of large companies
with big budgets.…so many of our cutting-edge, groundbreaking technologies come from
basement workshops and garages [because] large companies lack the flexibility to pursue
innovation with the same vigor as smaller ones.
Many small start-ups are entirely dependent on Patents

Hessman 2014 says

The fact is, there are still many small and midsized technology companies -- everyone from
startups to multimillion-dollar software providers -- that depend solely on their patents… to
stand a chance in the market…"On the business side of IP, patents have real value… because
they protect inventions that are transformative in the industry."

We must encourage small start-ups – tech-sector growth will be necessary to solve

pandemics, global warming, energy and food shortages.

Gil 2021 says

Patents…have given us breakthrough technologies such as the laser, self-driving cars,

graphene, and solar panels…A patent’s…protection…is… why companies invest billions in
research and development. This results in scientists and engineers…trying to find the best,
most original solutions to the world’s problems…And we haven’t run out of global problems
… Innovation is what helps us deal with pandemics, tackle global warming, address energy
and food shortages, and much more.