There's a huge clog in the American economy, one that is blocking a pipleine in innovation that has always set this country apart and fostered properity.

The obstruction is that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, which ha a backlog of more than 1 million applications for patents. They are gathering dust in an agency where a short-staffed work force of patent examiners does the work using old and moldy information technology. It is not uncommon for decisions on applications to take three years.

The agnecy got a new chief two months ago - former IBM executive David Kappos - and he is not mincing words about the situation, calling it "instane, unacceptable" in a recent interview iwth the Washington Post.

Kappos is changing procedures to help speed up the examining proces, but says the agency needs help from Congress to get it out of a $200 million deficit.

PASNTHRU