Patent System Under Scrutiny, IP Education Lags in MBA Programs
A campaign questions patent validity while top business schools neglect mandatory intellectual property courses.
By Letizia Giugliano
3 min readHuman-Edited, AI-Assisted
A persistent public relations campaign is actively undermining confidence in the patent system, often labeling legitimate protections as “bad patents” or their owners as “trolls” to excuse infringement [IPWatchdog - Bad Patents]. Concurrently, a new report highlights a critical gap in business education: none of the top 20 U.S. MBA programs require a course on intellectual property, despite its increasing economic importance [IPWatchdog - Intangible Investor]. These trends pose challenges to the foundational framework that supports innovation.
The Campaign Against Patent Rights
The campaign against so-called “bad patents” and “patent trolls” is portrayed as an effort to discredit the property rights essential to the patent system [IPWatchdog - Bad Patents]. This strategy aims to shift the narrative from whether an entity has infringed a valid patent to questioning the patent's legitimacy or the owner's motives [IPWatchdog - Bad Patents]. Often, a “bad patent” is simply one that a large company prefers not to respect or pay for, rather than one failing to meet statutory requirements [IPWatchdog - Bad Patents]. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) examines applications with care, and under Section 282 of the Patent Act, issued patents are presumed valid, requiring clear and convincing evidence for invalidation in federal district court [IPWatchdog - Bad Patents].
“The campaign against so-called bad patents and patent trolls isn’t just misleading. It is intentionally undermining confidence in the very property rights our patent system was created to protect.”
— Former Acting Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
“Despite demand for IP Knowledge amidst AI challenges, not one of the top programs surveyed requires an IP course or elective be taken to complete requirements for a degree.”
— Center for Intellectual Property Understanding (CIPU) report
“Much of the theoretical research on patent valuation, IP strategy, etc., is built on just that, how things are ‘supposed’ to be versus reality in a business setting.”
— Brian Hinman
PTAB Challenges and Varying Standards
Critics frequently cite patent claims canceled by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) as evidence that the USPTO issues too many flawed patents [IPWatchdog - Bad Patents]. However, this argument overlooks the differing legal standards applied by the PTAB compared to federal district courts [IPWatchdog - Bad Patents]. For instance, the threshold for initiating an inter partes review at the PTAB is a reasonable likelihood of the challenger prevailing, with a burden of proof set at a preponderance of the evidence [IPWatchdog - Bad Patents]. This contrasts with the higher “clear and convincing evidence” standard required for invalidity in district court, meaning a patent claim can be canceled by the PTAB even if the same evidence would not suffice in a federal court setting [IPWatchdog - Bad Patents].
The IP Knowledge Gap in Business Education
Intangible assets, including trademarks, copyrights, and patents, now constitute an estimated 92% of the S&P 500 market value, according to Ocean Tomo [IPWatchdog - Intangible Investor]. Despite this economic reality, a 2026 report by the Center for Intellectual Property Understanding (CIPU) found that not a single one of the top 20 U.S. MBA programs surveyed requires an intellectual property course for graduation [IPWatchdog - Intangible Investor]. This educational gap persists even as the global economy becomes increasingly knowledge-based and driven by artificial intelligence [IPWatchdog - Intangible Investor]. While 15 of the top 20 programs offer some form of IP instruction, including nine dedicated courses and 14 substantial integrations, five of these 15 programs have no qualifying MBA course listed at all [IPWatchdog - Intangible Investor].
Preparing Future Leaders for an Intangible Economy
The CIPU report underscores the necessity for future business leaders and investors to be proficient in intellectual property to navigate technology, legal frameworks, and market dynamics effectively [IPWatchdog - Intangible Investor]. Brian Hinman, a former IBM licensing executive, highlighted a deficiency in academic settings: the lack of faculty with practical, operational experience in IP, which can lead to theoretical research being disconnected from real-world business applications [IPWatchdog - Intangible Investor]. The report suggests a layered approach, integrating IP concepts into existing business subjects and providing accessible opportunities for specialized and experiential learning, to better equip a generation of managers to leverage intangible assets and connect innovation with commercial success [IPWatchdog - Intangible Investor].
Read also on The Patent: King Workers to Strike Over Collective Agreement Negotiations · German Supreme Court Sets High Bar for Abstract Color Trademarks
