http://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/02/twitters-ingenious-solution-to-the-patent-problem-let-inventors-control-the-patents/
http://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/2013/02/21/microsoft-to-publish-patent-catalogue-in-move-to-deter-litigation/
Friday, February 22, 2013
#8: Solving the Patent Problem
I read two interesting articles about changes tech
firms believe could change the current patent system in order to further
stimulate innovation and stymie NPEs. Basically, twitter believes that patent
designers and inventors should hold all of the rights to their own patents
rather than transferring those rights to companies. This, according to Twitter,
should promote defensive rather than offensive patent instigation It will also
clearly define what the original intent of the patent was, which will limit
litigation battles. Lastly, they hope that if someone infringes on a patent,
the inventor can just license the patent to that entity in stead of a company
suing the infringer. These are all great aims but not very concrete as many
companies currently claim to only use their patents for defensive purposes
although many do not. However, I actually think some of these ideas may become
a reality if Microsoft actually goes through with its plan to publish all of
its patents on the web. This will increase transparency and reduce lawsuits,
especially if other industry leaders follow Microsoft’s lead.
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Great read, thanks a lot. I do agree on all of your points and think that all of those lawsuits are getting out of hand, especially since big companies spend more on lawsuits than research and development. If Microsoft goes through with it, this can be the beginning help to solve the problem.
ReplyDeleteTrue but how do individual patent holders commercialize their products? How would they defend against patent attacks which cost ~2.5m per court case.
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