Entrepreneur Magazine - "Losing the Race" - Joshua Kurlantzick writes this article that points out how it's not just corporations who have problems keeping up with the pace of change. Apparently the US Patent office is having issues with the processing of new patents. It seems that in the 1980's, the USPTO received about 150,000 aplication annualy - compare that to the now 300,000 average annual applications! Combined with a reduction in funding and a mostly paper based system, this has meant that the office now has a backlog running about a year behind on average. This also has effects on corporate America who are vulnerable to copying of patents whilst they remain pending.

But there is some hope that Congress will eventually boost funding, because "America's economic dominance increasingly relies on developing its ideas, explains Harvard Business School professor Josh Lerner"