Reducing costs might help, but how would you go about reducing the costs?
As GP points out, the most of the cost isn't government fees. It's paying your own private lawyer or law firm, for their time and advice, assuming you choose to do that. And to the other party's lawyer if you lose in litigation, perhaps.
Your lawyer is a private arrangement which mostly doesn't involve the government. The government fees are already low.
Given that, how does your proposal differ from "patent lawyers should charge much less for their time, to people with less money"? It's hard to imagine them voluntarily reducing their income by a large factor to a large number of people, or agreeing to take on lots of low paid work when they have better offers.
But there are other models, e.g. no win no fee works in some fields.
Reducing costs might help, but how would you go about reducing the costs?
As GP points out, the most of the cost isn't government fees. It's paying your own private lawyer or law firm, for their time and advice, assuming you choose to do that. And to the other party's lawyer if you lose in litigation, perhaps.
Your lawyer is a private arrangement which mostly doesn't involve the government. The government fees are already low.
Given that, how does your proposal differ from "patent lawyers should charge much less for their time, to people with less money"? It's hard to imagine them voluntarily reducing their income by a large factor to a large number of people, or agreeing to take on lots of low paid work when they have better offers.
But there are other models, e.g. no win no fee works in some fields.