Post #10: What is an IPA?

Twitter recently began developing a new patent agreement between its employers that allows them pretty much full control of the patents they file.  Normally in big corporation settings, an employer completely signs off any invention they create to the company, allowing said company to use it anyway they want without the creator's consent.  However, Twitter is realizing the benefit of giving the ownership back to the creator in the company.

IPA stands for Investor Patent Agreement, and within that agreement there are three main points: A promise by the inventor not to sue anyone, unless it is for defensive purposes; a promise to only use the patent as intended for what it was for as directed by the inventor; and lastly, the inventors can hold the company/whoever eventually owns the patent accountable for what they do with it in the future.  The first main point of the agreement is especially important because it prevents patent wars from starting since there is no incentive to sue or keep companies out of the competition.  A lot of what we see today is one company suing another just simply to slow them down in production/R&D/whatever they are doing.  Although this is a good strategy, it also slows down innovation because companies work much slower in producing products, and costs billions of dollars.  The only people who really benefit from this, besides the companies of course, are the lawyers that are paid exuberant fees to fight.  Stopping the patent war is further reinforced with the second point because the patent can only be used for what the inventor intended, anything else and it has to be approved.  So even if it is bought by someone else, lets say a "patent troll," that person can't seek to extract money from other people unless the original inventor says that is OK.

The IPA, besides of course giving more ownership to the patent within the company to the original inventor, also prevents offensive attacks by Non-Practicing Entities.  This seems like a first good step in solving the all-around patent crisis that seems to have been going on these past few years.  Like my previous article, where I discuss how Microsoft is more transparent with its patents, Twitter is also becoming a pioneer in new patent strategies.

Here is the link to the original article: http://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/02/twitters-ingenious-solution-to-the-patent-problem-let-inventors-control-the-patents/