inventors. On March 3, 1981, the Supreme Court
voted five to four that computer programs qualified
as a type of process that could be patented. This
ruling set a precedent for software protection that
bolstered the emerging computing field. As the
number of computer-related patents increased, at-
torneys began to specialize in legal issues concern-
ing software copyright and other means of protect-
ing software and hardware inventions.
On April 2, 1982, President Reagan approved a
law assigning a single federal appeals court to review
all patent-related appeals. Starting in October, 1982,
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, lo-
cated in Washington, D.C., had nationwide appel-
late jurisdiction over U.S. patent cases. Patent attor-
neys experienced with invention legalities presided
as judges on the court.
International Competition During the 1980’s,
North American inventors faced increased competi-
tion from foreign inventors who were interested in
many of the same rapidly developing and lucrative
fields of technology, particularly microelectronics,
materials engineering, biotechnology, and telecom-
munications. In 1985, U.S. and Japanese inventors
received the most patents worldwide, with a global
application rate of fifteen hundred per day. Presi-
dent Reagan stressed in his January, 1987, state of
the union speech that the United States had to com-
pete more effectively to retain its global position in
technology and science.
Both citizens and noncitizens applied for and re-
ceived U.S. patents. In 1987, the USPTO issued
17,288 U.S. patents to Japanese inventors, an in-
crease of 25 percent from the previous year. That
same year, West German inventors acquired 8,030
U.S. patents, an increase of 15 percent from 1986,
and French inventors received 2,990 U.S. patents, a
19 percent increase. In 1988, foreign inventors re-
ceived 48 percent of U.S. patents.
The USPTO issued the majority of its patents to
corporations rather than individuals. Only two U.S.
companies, IBM and General Electric, were included
among the top ten U.S. patent recipients. In 1975,
seven of the top ten recipients had been American.
General Electric had topped the list for a quarter
century through 1986, but in 1987 it slipped to
fourth place, behind three Japanese leaders: Canon,
Hitachi, and Toshiba. Inventors worldwide employed
contrasting patenting strategies. Inventors in Japan
often secured patents for every individual improve-
ment and modification, boosting the patent statis-
tics for that country, while U.S. inventors waited
until all components of their inventions were ready
and filed for an inclusive patent, resulting in fewer
patents being filed by Americans.
As technological competition increased inter-
nationally in the 1980’s, U.S. industrial research
shifted to the improvement of existing inventions
and the production of salable commodities. This
shift was designed to emphasize profits and appease
stockholders who were unwilling to wait for long-
term research to pay off. U.S. management some-
times impeded inventiveness, while foreign execu-
tives tended to encourage researchers to pursue
innovation.Secrets and Rivals Many American inventors were
secretive regarding their intellectual property, and
their secrecy was aided by the fact that the USPTO
did not divulge specific information contained in
U.S. patent applications. In contrast, patent offices
in Japan and Europe published complete applica-
tions eighteen months after they were filed, enabling
competitors to gain access to them. The USPTO clas-
sified invention information deemed crucial to na-
tional security, and such information was regulated
by the Department of Defense until it was declassi-
fied. For example, the Sidewinder missile was in-
vented in 1947 and used by the armed forces, but it
was not publically patented until 1980.
In the late 1980’s, many inventors focused on
creating and patenting high-temperature supercon-
ductors, resulting in numerous conflicts over the
rights and profits to those inventions. Countries
competed to secure power by dominating the super-
conductor industry. TheCambridge Report on Super-
conductivitynoted that Americans received ten out
of seventy-six early superconductor patents granted
in Europe, while Japanese inventors received fifty-
nine. During the 1980’s, Sumitomo Electric Indus-
tries filed seven hundred superconductor patent ap-
plications worldwide.
President Reagan instructed the USPTO to expe-
dite patents for U.S. inventors’ superconductors as
of 1988, so disputes regarding patent rights would
not impede commercial benefits. He stressed that
patents blocked rivals or required them to pay license
costs to use specific patented items and processes.
Patents also lured investors to support new compa-The Eighties in America Inventions 525