Seen and Heard a Round-Up of IP-Related Quotes, Observations And
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Factory of the Future?
Factory of the Future? Microsoft alum Nathan Myhrvold runs a firm that doesn't make anything, but it's hoarding the key to a new business age: intellectual property By Brad Stone Newsweek Nov. 22, 2004 issue - The offices of the highly secretive Seattle-area start-up, Intellectual Ventures, are filled with evidence of the multiple hobbies of its polymath founder, Nathan Myhrvold. The multimillionaire former chief technologist at Microsoft is a scientist, so there's a collection of antique microscopes in his office. He is a photographer, so striking pictures of nature adorn all the walls. He is an avid writer, so antique typewriters line the hallway. And since he is also a paleontologist, the full-scale head of a T. rex lords it over the lobby. It's actually a replica of the model used in the second "Jurassic Park" Robbie McClaran for Newsweek film. 'Wild and crazy' guy: Myhrvold The dino's ferociously bared teeth hint at elements of Intellectual Ventures' bold business plan. Myhrvold and his partner, former Microsoft chief software architect Edward Jung, have created the quintessential company for the 21st century. It doesn't actually make anything: it outsources, offshores and offloads nearly every task performed by regular corporations. It has no factories, machine shops or marketing teams. Only patent attorneys populate the quiet hallways. The five-year-old firm's plan is to create or buy new ideas, accumulate patents—exclusive rights to use the inventions—and rent those ideas to companies that need them to do the gritty work of producing real products. -
Some Facts of High-Tech Patenting
Some Facts of High-Tech Patenting Michael Webb Nick Short Nicholas Bloom Josh Lerner Working Paper 19-014 Some Facts of High-Tech Patenting Michael Webb Nick Short Stanford University Harvard Kennedy School Nicholas Bloom Josh Lerner Stanford University Harvard Business School Working Paper 19-014 Copyright © 2018 by Michael Webb, Nick Short, Nicholas Bloom, and Josh Lerner Working papers are in draft form. This working paper is distributed for purposes of comment and discussion only. It may not be reproduced without permission of the copyright holder. Copies of working papers are available from the author. Some Facts of High-Tech Patenting Michael Webb, Nick Short, Nicholas Bloom, and Josh Lerner NBER Working Paper No. 24793 July 2018 JEL No. L86,O34 ABSTRACT Patenting in software, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence has grown rapidly in recent years. Such patents are acquired primarily by large US technology firms such as IBM, Microsoft, Google, and HP, as well as by Japanese multinationals such as Sony, Canon, and Fujitsu. Chinese patenting in the US is small but growing rapidly, and world-leading for drone technology. Patenting in machine learning has seen exponential growth since 2010, although patenting in neural networks saw a strong burst of activity in the 1990s that has only recently been surpassed. In all technological fields, the number of patents per inventor has declined near-monotonically, except for large increases in inventor productivity in software and semiconductors in the late 1990s. In most high-tech fields, Japan is the only country outside the US with significant US patenting activity; however, whereas Japan played an important role in the burst of neural network patenting in the 1990s, it has not been involved in the current acceleration. -
THE DEFENSIVE PATENT PLAYBOOK James M
THE DEFENSIVE PATENT PLAYBOOK James M. Rice† Billionaire entrepreneur Naveen Jain wrote that “[s]uccess doesn’t necessarily come from breakthrough innovation but from flawless execution. A great strategy alone won’t win a game or a battle; the win comes from basic blocking and tackling.”1 Companies with innovative ideas must execute patent strategies effectively to navigate the current patent landscape. But in order to develop a defensive strategy, practitioners must appreciate the development of the defensive patent playbook. Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8 of the U.S. Constitution grants Congress the power to “promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.”2 Congress attempts to promote technological progress by granting patent rights to inventors. Under the utilitarian theory of patent law, patent rights create economic incentives for inventors by providing exclusivity in exchange for public disclosure of technology.3 The exclusive right to make, use, import, and sell a technology incentivizes innovation by enabling inventors to recoup the costs of development and secure profits in the market.4 Despite the conventional theory, in the 1980s and early 1990s, numerous technology companies viewed patents as unnecessary and chose not to file for patents.5 In 1990, Microsoft had seven utility patents.6 Cisco © 2015 James M. Rice. † J.D. Candidate, 2016, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. 1. Naveen Jain, 10 Secrets of Becoming a Successful Entrepreneur, INC. (Aug. 13, 2012), http://www.inc.com/naveen-jain/10-secrets-of-becoming-a-successful- entrepreneur.html. -
Standard Essential Patents, Trolls, and the Smartphone Wars: Triangulating the End Game, 119 Penn St
UIC School of Law UIC Law Open Access Repository UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship 2014 Standard Essential Patents, Trolls, and the Smartphone Wars: Triangulating the End Game, 119 Penn St. L. Rev. 1 (2014) Daryl Lim John Marshall Law School, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.law.uic.edu/facpubs Part of the Antitrust and Trade Regulation Commons, Intellectual Property Law Commons, and the Litigation Commons Recommended Citation Daryl Lim, Standard Essential Patents, Trolls, and the Smartphone Wars: Triangulating the End Game, 119 Penn St. L. Rev. 1 (2014) https://repository.law.uic.edu/facpubs/511 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by UIC Law Open Access Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of UIC Law Open Access Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. I Articles , Standard Essential Patents, Trolls, and the Smartphone Wars: Triangulating the End Game Daryl Lim* ABSTRACT Few legal issues in recent years have captured the public's attention more powerfully than litigation over standard essential patents ("SEPs"). This Article explains how SEP litigation overlaps with two other major centers of patent litigation-litigation involving smartphones and patent assertion entities ("PAEs"). It observes that attempting to pre-empt patent hold-ups by imposing blanket ex ante disclosure obligations and royalty caps on standard setting organizations ("SSOs") is misdirected *Assistant Professor, The John Marshall Law School. I am grateful to Logan Breed, Mike Carrier, Jorge Contreras, Tom Cotter, Sean Gates, Llew Gibbons, Allen Kamp, Josh Samoff, Greg Vetter as well as the participants of the AIPLA Computer and Electronic Summit, the McAndrews, Held & Malloy LLC Comprehensive IP Litigation Update, the IP Scholars' Roundtable, the IP on the Edge Conference, and the Faculty Work in Progress Workshop for their helpful comments and suggestions. -
P106 - Word Count: 2,818
Brian Schnack ([email protected]) Garrett Thompson ([email protected]) Group: P106 - Word Count: 2,818 Patents and Technology The patent system was designed to promote intellectual innovation and to protect inventions from being stolen, allowing small companies to thrive if their ideas are new and innovative. The founding fathers thought it was so important to “promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts” that they wrote it directly into the U.S. Constitution (US Constitution, 8). However in recent years, with patents on programming algorithms and different electronic components, the patent system has started to inhibit innovation. The current methodology of the US patent system does not promote intellectual inventions in software and technology, but instead allows companies to abuse the patent system. Companies misuse the patent system to make money through lawsuits rather than innovation, hurting businesses and ultimately the consumer. Slowly, through the judicial court, things are beginning to shape up but the United States is still a long way away from a patent system that actually does promote intellectual innovation. One large company that uses the broken patent system to their advantage is Intellectual Ventures, a company that attempts to help small time inventors protect their intellectual property by buying their patents, a move they call investing in their inventions. Unfortunately, this is not how it usually plays out, and Intellectual Ventures ends up selling patents to companies who attempt to make money purely by suing other companies who are infringing on the patents that they just bought. Many companies that Intellectual Ventures sells patents to are not even companies, but individuals pretending to be a company who will then use those patents to sue actual companies to make quick and easy money. -
Artikelen PRIVATEERS and TROLLS JOIN the GLOBAL PATENT WARS; CAN COMPETITION AUTHORITIES DISARM THEM?
Mr. M. Dolmans1 Artikelen Privateers and trolls join the global patent wars; can competition authorities disarm them? Computerrecht 2014/37 a component that is subject to network effects, and you can threaten producers with catastrophic loss. On Halloween of 2013, patent assertion company – Patents proliferate in the ICT sector. This is partially Rockstar, owner of one of the largest patent portfo- due to patent mining and strategic patenting – firms lios in the world, 2 filed patent law suits against seven creating dense thickets of overlapping patent claims mobile phone makers and Google in the Texas ‘rocket covering and surrounding a product to block rivals. As docket’. 3 This heralded an escalation in the mobile patent offices are overwhelmed by applications in new, patent world war raging since 2010. fast-moving and complex technology areas, some think they grant patents without adequate review, leading to This ‘Halloween Attack’ is symptomatic of an in- lower patent quality. 4 Yet, in a portfolio, volume makes creasing problem: opportunistic exploitation of up for weakness. Patents are presumed valid, and chal- patents by Patent Assertion Entities (‘PAEs’, or less lenging patents is costly and time-consuming. More politely, ‘trolls’), and the strategic use of such PAEs important, if one patent is annulled or found not in- by firms to hamper their rivals. The war stories from fringed, patentees will have others. Litigation becomes the mobile phone sector are interesting as examples like a fight against the Hydra: chop off one head and of a competitive game, but even more as a harbin- two more grow. -
Some Observations on the Patent Troll Litigation Problem
Intellectual Property& Technology Law Journal Edited by the Technology and Proprietary Rights Group of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP VOLUME 26 • NUMBER 8 • AUGUST 2014 Some Observations on the Patent Troll Litigation Problem By Christopher Hu atent infringement cases brought by so-called problem can be addressed. In brief, the problems P patent trolls have received considerable atten- stem from the way nonpracticing entities (NPEs) tion in recent years, enough so that both Congress use or misuse the judicial system, not the US Patent and the White House have chimed in on the sub- Office. Accordingly, the solution primarily involves ject.1 The number of cases filed by patent trolls, the applying existing judicial procedures more vigorously cost of defending or settling these cases, the size with minimal changes to existing substantive law. of some judgments, the perceived frivolousness of some cases, and the use or abuse of litigation as a The Patent Troll “Problem” tool to “extort” settlements have all drawn atten- tion to this issue. Adding to the controversy is the Some Statistics on Patent Troll Litigation sentiment among some that it is inherently unfair NPEs, also known as patent trolls or patent asser- or economically wrong for an entity that does not tion entities (PAEs), are a fact of business life in the practice a patent to profit by asserting it. United States. Definitions of a patent troll vary but Although there is some statistical data concerning the common element of every definition is that a the assertion of patents by trolls, and a considerable patent troll is an entity that does not itself practice a amount of anecdotal evidence, there appear to be patent but instead asserts the patent against entities no rigorous studies on the economic effect of trolls. -
Standard-Essential Patents and Pooling October - December 2014 Developments by Kenneth M
Standard-Essential Patents and Pooling October - December 2014 Developments By Kenneth M. Frankel, John C. Paul, and Flora M. Amwayi U.S. Litigation 1. Ericsson v. D-Link Federal Circuit holds that jury instructions on damages should only concern Georgia Pacific factors relevant to the case at issue, and should properly inform the jury on the actual RAND commitments at issue and the proper apportionment of the value of the invention apart from the value of the standard: December 4, 2014: The Federal Circuit affirmed a district court’s denial of defendants’ motion for a new trial based on an alleged violation of the “entire market value rule.” But the court vacated the jury’s determination of $10 million in damages, and remanded the case on the grounds that the district court committed prejudicial error in instructing the jury to consider multiple irrelevant or misleading Georgia Pacific factors in determining Ericsson’s RAND obligations. Ericsson sued D-Link, Toshiba, Netgear, Belkin, and other defendants for infringement of various standard- essential patents. Following a jury verdict of infringement and a bench trial on RAND-related issues, the defendants appealed. The court held that evidence of licenses based on the entire value of licensed, multicomponent products including unpatented components is admissible, and that the lower court violated no substantive legal rule or evidentiary standard by admitting expert testimony on the same. However, the court concluded that the district court committed prejudicial legal error when it failed to adequately instruct the jury on the actual RAND commitments at issue, the proper apportionment of the value of the invention apart from the value of the standard, and the Georgia- Pacific factors relevant to the case at issue. -
Patents & Legal Expenditures
Patents & Legal Expenditures Christopher J. Ryan, Jr. & Brian L. Frye* I. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 577 A. A Brief History of University Patents ................................................. 578 B. The Origin of University Patents ........................................................ 578 C. University Patenting as a Function of Patent Policy Incentives ........ 580 D. The Business of University Patenting and Technology Transfer ....... 581 E. Trends in Patent Litigation ................................................................. 584 II. DATA AND ANALYSIS .................................................................................... 588 III. CONCLUSION ................................................................................................. 591 I. INTRODUCTION Universities are engines of innovation. To encourage further innovation, the federal government and charitable foundations give universities grants in order to enable university researchers to produce the inventions and discoveries that will continue to fuel our knowledge economy. Among other things, the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 was supposed to encourage additional innovation by enabling universities to patent inventions and discoveries produced using federal funds and to license those patents to private companies, rather than turning their patent rights over to the government. The Bayh-Dole Act unquestionably encouraged universities to patent inventions and license their patents. -
How Valuable Is Your Patent, Really?
1 2 3 4 • These are factors that go beyond the usual realm of a patent prosecution counsel • broad claims • well supported by spec • clean prosecution history • Timely issuance • Can the patent stand alone as an asset? à How much is the patent worth in the market place? 5 • Life after AIA • Presumption of validity at the district court level is no longer there • Parallel proceedings at PTAB • High rate of IPR institution and claim cancellation (especially at the outset of AIA) • While the application of AIA rules and new processes are being hashed out, presumption of validity is definitely gone. • Case law is always evolving – Pendulum still swinging • Gottschalk v. Benson • Parker v. Flook • Diamond v. Diehr • State Street Bank v. Signature Financial Group • In re Bilski • Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International • DDR Holdings v. Hotels.com (one patent held as patentable! • Enfish v. Microsoft • Certain PTAB decisions being designated precedential 6 http://www.ncsl.org/research/financial-services-and-commerce/2016-patent-troll- legislation.aspx http://www.law360.com/articles/836578/the-post-aia-battleground-for-patent- challenges http://www.finnegan.com/resources/articles/articlesdetail.aspx?news=3aad1da2- 08a9-4f14-a147-611b1e39ff75 ITC: Availability of Cease and Desist orders and Limited or General Exclusion Orders; speedy proceedings “anti-patent troll” — i.e., entities that have made a business out of directly challenging patents via IPR for financial gain (“...IPR process is being misused by hedge fund companies whose motive isn't -
Intellectual Ventures Comments
INTELLECTUAL VENTURES" July 3, 2018 By Mail & Email ([email protected]) The Honorable Andrew lancu Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office United States Patent & Trademark Office Mail Stop Patent Board P.O. Box 1450 Alexandria, VA 22313-1450 Attention Vice Chief Administrative Patent Judges Michael Tierney or Jacqueline Wright Bonilla, PTAB Notice of Proposed Rulemaking 2018. Dear Under Secretary lancu: Intellectual Ventures Management LLC ("Intellectual Ventures") thanks the Director for the opportunity to present its views on the United States Patent & Trademark Office ("Office") Notice of Proposed Rulemak ing entitled "Changes to the Claim Construction Standard for Interpreting Claims in Trial Proceedings Be fore the Patent Trial and Appeal Board" as published in the May 9, 2018 issue of the Federal Register, 83 Fed. Reg. 21,221 ("Notice"). Intellectual Ventures urges the Office to adopt the rules proposed in the Notice. About Intellectual Ventures Intellectual Ventures fosters conception, development, and investment in inventions. It was co-founded by Dr. Nathan Myhrvold, who is also its Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Myhrvold was previously the Chief Tech nology Officer of Microsoft, and he holds a doctorate in theoretical and mathematical physics and a mas ter's degree in mathematical economics from Princeton University, as well as a master's degree in geo physics and space physics and a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of California at Los Angeles. He was a postdoctoral fellow in the quantum physics laboratory of Dr. Stephen Hawking at Cambridge University. And he is a named inventor on hundreds of issued patents. -
How the Transformation of Patents from Rewards to Weapons Reveals the Limits of Antitrust
Plowshares into Swords: How the Transformation of Patents from Rewards to Weapons Reveals the Limits of Antitrust Introduction Patents exist in fascinating opposition to antitrust law by virtue of conferring a legal monopoly upon their owners. Neither the Sherman Antitrust Act nor the Clayton Antitrust Act cover patents. Furthermore, there is no mention of patents in updates to either of these statutes, either. Antitrust has traditionally sought to prevent companies from acquiring too big a share of the market and aims to prevent corporations and market entities from engaging in behavior that otherwise harms consumers.1 Antitrust authorities and enforcers see themselves as the heroic defenders of the consumer.2 Patents and antitrust law have rarely collided outside of heavily- scrutinized pay-for-delay deals struck between big pharmaceutical corporations and their nemeses—generic drug manufacturers.3 These two legal spheres can collide, however, when entities in a given market space compete with each other through patent assertion litigation. The litigation between Samsung and Apple has burned itself into the public consciousness as an example of utilizing patents as a method of attacking one’s market rivals. Of 1 Maurice Stucke, Reconsidering Antitrust’s Goals, 53 B.C. L. REV. 551 (2012). The author notes that four traditional goal of antitrust are “ensuring effective competitive process, promoting consumer welfare, maximizing efficiency, and ensuring economic freedom.” 2 Bill Baer, Remedies Matter: The Importance of Achieving Effective Antitrust Outcomes, 30 No. 1 CORP. COUNS QUARTERLY, ART 4 (2014). The article is interesting for its earnestness and also significant because it gives the reader a glimpse into the minds of the government agents in charge of “policing” various aspects of corporate activities.