I don't think it's strictly an issue of how to do business in the United States. There are problems associated with patent thickets. The ability to innovate in whatever the space happens to be is often impeded by what's called a patent thicket, where you have multiple patents all over the place. You're effectively creating an arms race, not so much for innovative purposes, but merely to have something to defend yourself with when somebody comes calling.
From my perspective, that represents an incredible amount of waste, in a sense. Lately we've seen it in the smartphone market, for example, with billions of dollars being spent, not to conduct R and D, not on marketing, developing, or doing a range of the sorts of pro-innovative things we like to see, but just for these companies to arm themselves for the prospect of future battles.
From a Canadian perspective, we have to recognize that we need a patent act and patent reform to ensure that we try to avoid, to the maximum extent possible, some of those kinds of patent thickets that can actually stifle innovation.
I would point to one in the pharma area. In negotiations with the European Union as part of CETA, significant pressure is being brought to bear by the European Union for increased protections on the patents side. I think that will have more of a stifling effect for some of the Canadian-based pharma companies. They will find stuff locked down, never mind the associated costs that will increase costs on the pharma side for consumers.