The Problem With Patents

PATENT# 1234567 PATENT# 3691215 PATENT# PATENT# 0000001 PATENT# 1234567 24 PATENT# PATENT# 1010101 ENT# 91215 PATENT# 0123654 PATENT# PATENT# 98765432 991818 PATENT# 1111011 1675309 THE PROBLEM WITH PATENTS An Infographic Inspired by This American Life: When Patents Attack! Patents were provided for in the US Constitution to "promote the progress of science and useful arts." However, many feel the patent system has become vulnerable to abuse, devolving into something the opposite of its original intent: a tool for tech-industry shakedowns and costly ligitation. #1 THE RIGHT IDEA There are currently 8 MILLION patents on file with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, including innovations that have changed the world: THE LIGHT BULB ICE MACHINES THE COTTON GIN and some less innovative ideas: "APPARATUS FOR "THERMALLY FRESHENED "METHOD FOR CONCEALING SIMULATING A HIGH-FIVE" BREAD" PARTIAL BALDNESS" (DISEMBODIED ROBOT ARM (TOAST) (COMBOVER) THAT "HIGH FIVES" YOU) If each of the 8 MILLION patent products were given a half hour infomercial, they could play for 456 YEARS STRAIGHT Add the 3 MILLION PENDING patent applications and you have 627 YEARS OF INFOMERCIAL An estimated 30% OF PATENTS are for things that already exist; that's 2.4 MILLION PATENTS FOR REPLICATED CONTENT. Filing a patent ctosts $700 MINIMALLY- that's at least $1.7 BILLION spent for patents on things that already exist Enough to build and launch THE SPACE SHUTTLE ENDEAVOR (or perhaps an "OUTERSPACE TRANSPORT SYSTEM FOR SPACE EXPLORATION ATTEMPTS") #2 SIGNS OF WEAKNESS "An idea being patented is supposed to be non-obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, [more than] a common sense good idea. IT HAS TO BE A BREAKTHROUGH." Laura Sydell, This American Life Many of these redundant patents are made in an attempt to capitalize on fundamental systems and behaviors in technology and online "BACKING UP DATA ONLINE" "PROVIDING A USER "POP-UP INTERFACE" WINDOWS ON THE WEB" "ONE-CLICK PURCHASING" "APPLICATION THAT ALLOWS USER TO PURCHASE FROM A MOBILE PHONE" "We're at a point in the state of intellectual property where existing patents probably cover every behavior that's happening on the Internet." Chris Sacca, Venture Capitalist and investor in Twitter #3 OWNING INFORMATION: MEET INTELLECTUAL VENTURES WHAT THEY CLAIM: THEIR LABORATORY FRONT: "We believe ideas are valuable. At Intellectual Ventures has come up Intellectual Ventures, we invest VS) with around 1,000 PATENTS at the both expertise and capital in the lab; not one patent has made it to development of inventions." commercial use Intellectual Ventures is one of the top five owners of US patents, OWNING AT LEAST 35,000 PATENTS... 98% 2% OTHER PEOPLE'S IDEAS THEIR OWN IDEAS but only 2% of that is their own development; the rest are purchased "business tools" They have collected more than $1 BILLION from licensing fees to date (accounting for 90% of their revenue) They also file infringement lawsuits against companies using technology or software they "own:" but they do it through their 1,300 "SHELL COMPANIES" Many of their shell companies have no employees and are housed in the same empty office in East Texas (104 E Houston Street, Marshall, Texas, Suite 109); THESE COMPANIES ARE LIKE DISGUISES OR MASKS FOR INTELLECTUAL VENTURES Intellectual Ventures has struck deals with the following universities: PATENT# PATENT# PATENT# PATENT# PATENT# 12345678 987654321 10101010 90210 2345637 BROWN GRINNELL CORNELL' UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY USC COLLEGE PATENT# PATENT# PATENT# PATENT# 0103121 5748935 99999901 0000012 UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA STANFORD UNIVERSITY ENTAILS "THE MANAGEMENT OF INTELLECTUAL ASSETS GENERATED BY FACULTY, STUDENTS, AND STAFF." # 4 PATENT PROFITTEERS Over the past 20 years, patent lawsuits have cost innovators $500 BILLION IN LOST PROFITS NON PRACTICING ENTITIES (NPES): Opportunistic companies that own patents but do not use them NPE LAWSUITS ALL PATENT LAWSUITS ALL SOFTWARE PATENT CASES 17% 41% FROM NPES FROM NPES RESULTANT DESTRUCTION OF PROFIT = $332 BILLION OVER 4 YEARS Over the last 7 years, NPES have gotten more than 3X THE REWARD of Practicing companies in lawsuits $12 MILLION AWARDED TO NPES $3.4 MILLION AWARDED TO PRACTICING ENTITIES ala 80% OF SOFTWARE ENGINEERS say the patent system hinders innovation #5 SELFLESS INNOVATOR "Most of the technology [...] had all been designed already. I just had to put them together. It was a step of generalising, going to a higher level of abstraction" TIM BERNERS-LEE developer of the World Wide Web He joined hypertext with the internet, revolutionizing and universalizing the web experience for wide usage; he refused to patent his innovation so that it could be available to everyone PATENT# PATENT# 1234567 PATENT# PATENT# 0000001 3691215 PATENT# 246810 1234567 PATENT# PATENT# 1010101 0123654 PATENT# 1010 0 PAENT#PATENT# 01236543691215 PATENT# PATENT# PATENT# 991818 PATENT# 987654321 PATENT PATENT# mo1 0123654 1675309 1234567 The patent system has become increasingly complicated and bogged down by profiteers. While need for change seems obvious, legislation towards new standards of regulating the patent system are continually met with powerful lobbying resistance by the very companies that are causing the problem. END Brought to you by FRUGAL DAD Sources: http://www.todayinsci.com/C/Constitution_The/ConstitutionThe-Quotations.htm http://listverse.com/2008/03/31/10-really-great-american-patents/ http://www.thisamericanlife.org/sites/default/files/TAL441 transcript.pdf http://science.discovery.com/top-ten/2009/strange-patents/strange-patents-04.html http://www.cracked.com/article_15693_the-10-most-ridiculous-inventions-ever-patented_p2.html http://www.google.com/googlepatents/about.html http://www.fyitvnetwork.com/infomercial-production.php http://ipwatchdog.com/2011/01/28/the-cost-of-obtaining-patent/id=14668/ http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/about/information/shuttle_faq.html http://www.thisamericanlife.org/sites/default/files/TAL441_transcript.pdf http://intellectualventures.com/Home.aspx http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/07/26/138576167/when-patents-attack http://www.intellectualventures.com/ProductsServices/SellP.aspx http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2011/09/08/t_myhrvold_patent_system_iv.cnnmoney/ http://www.thisamericanlife.org/sites/default/files/TAL441_transcript.pdf http://triplehelixinnovation.com/intellectual-ventures-and-university-patents/1886 http://www.techdirt.com/blog/?tag=shell+companies http://www.thisamericanlife.org/sites/default/files/TAL441_transcript.pdf http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/07/26/138576167/when-patents-attack http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/18/technology/18patent.html http://triplehelixinnovation.com/intellectual-ventures-and-university-patents/1886 http://www.intellectualventures.com/newsroom/pressreleases/archive.aspx http://money.cnn.com/2011/09/21/technology/patent_troll_cost/index.htm http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/02/patent-infringement-lawsuits-raking-in-the-big-bucks.ars http://www.thisamericanlife.org/sites/default/files/TAL441 transcript.pdf http://royalsociety.org/uploadedfiles/royal_society_content/influencing_policy/reports/2011-03-28-knowledge-networks-nations.pdf http://www.answers.com/topic/tim-berners-lee http://info.cern.ch/ http://www.answers.com/topic/tim-berners-lee http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee http://www.thisamericanlife.org/sites/default/files/TAL441_transcript.pdf