Post #11: 1 Million Patents

China recently hit a huge milestone: 1,000,000 patents.  In 2012 alone they granted 210,000 patents.  What does this mean for China? Basically they are inventing and and innovating -- increasing their competitiveness with other nations and creating jobs at the same time.  The 2012 number is a 26% increase from 2011, a significant increase from the year before.  However, this still doesn't compare to the numbers that America is producing at 247,713 a year*, and which is still a record year.  Overall, we can expect emerging markets to start producing more and more patents and become more competitive as the years carry on.  Eventually China will hit 2 million patents, but only time can tell until that will happen -- I predict by 2017.

Here is the link to the original article: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2013-02/27/content_16260248.htm

*http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/us_stat.htm

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/

Post #9: Transparency: Good or bad? Depends on who you ask.

Apparently, Microsoft has decided that the best way to save money on litigation and to create a more trusting environment surrounding patents is to publish their own patents online.  This is happening as the ever so popular "patent troll" is increasingly suing companies because they keep the patents they purchase secret in order to carry out their goals.  By fostering a transparent environment on patents, it will be more difficult for patent trolls to reign over unsuspecting companies.  It seems that companies are finally starting to step up and figure out what to do with the patent trolls.  Microsoft hopes to lead with this example and demonstrate to other tech companies that they should publish their own patents as well to help prevent frivolous lawsuits.  Hopefully it doesn't end up backfiring and Microsoft somehow ends up destroying their competitive advantages.  It will also be interesting to see if other companies take the lead on this and begin publishing their own patents as well.


Here is the link to the original article: http://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/2013/02/21/microsoft-to-publish-patent-catalogue-in-move-to-deter-litigation/

Post #8: The King of Patents

In today's performance driven economy, there is nothing better then to file and eventually be rewarded for your patent.  As explained in Uzi Aloush's lecture on 2/25, engineers are faced with the difficult task of always designing new patents and becoming the best in their field, or be left behind.

With this type of mindset, it is no wonder company after company is constantly seeking to acquire and control the most patents possible.  For 2012, that award goes to IBM corp. --  a computer and hardware giant.  In 2012, it was awarded close to 6,500 patents, a huge number demonstrating its constant search for new inventions to improve and advance its company.  Not surprisingly, this is the 20th year in a row that it has won this award and on top of that, the 6,500 patents awarded amounted to more then Apple, Amazon, Hewlett Packard, Symantec, EMC, Intel, Oracle and Accenture combined.

IBM Corp. has been so successful in creating this innovative culture by always encouraging its employees to invent new products and work even harder to see them produced.


Here is the link to the original article: http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/blog/techflash/2013/02/research-in-mass-helps-put-ibm-on-the.html

Post #7: Apple Seeks Innovative New Patents

This past week, Apple was awarded patents for both situational awareness functions on its devices and location-sharing to third-parties from its devices.

Situational awareness interestingly combines your activities with automatic phone responses.  What this means is that if you go into a restaurant, it might switch your phone to silent or if you are on an airplane, it can recognize that and switch it to airplane mode.  However, there are a few critiques of this new patent, considering if certain settings are met and the situational awareness features are turned on when you don't want them to be, that could be a problem.  Maybe you call someone by accident or the device turns your GPS on when you enter a car, but you don't want to waste battery or data.  There are clearly issues that can arise with this new patent, although I'm sure Apple will be able to solve them.  It would be interesting to see this developed because this is actually a really good idea and would make for a much more intuitive phone experience.

The second patent, location sharing to third-parties is supposedly related to the eventual release of the iWatch.  That way, the iWatch doesn't need any GPS tracking devices on it, it can just receive the information from the Iphone.  This could prove to be very useful later on in helping to create much thinner devices and making it easier to transfer data.

Overall, these patents seem to indicate that Apple will be coming out with some new and interesting features for their products in the near future.  We can only wait to see what Apple creates.

Here is the link to the original article:

http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/26/apple-patents-situational-awareness-and-location-information-sharing-for-mobile-devices/

Post #6: Patent Trolls: Stifling Growth?

As mentioned in my previous blog post, non-practicing entities purchase patents to then sue other companies for money.  Also known as patent trolls, these people are now being attacked by our very own President Obama because all they do is coerce other companies.  Patent offices are such an important institution because they do so much for protecting inventions and letting companies flourish through competitive advantages.  But now, they are under risk of these trolls who just want to sue and make money, when instead the patents could be going to a company that actually needs to use the invention to create their product.  Government has been slow to keep pace with technological growth and advancement -- so many laws are now either outdated or don't even exist for our technology structure today.  Government needs to step up and prevent these patent trolls from doing real damage before it's too late.


Article:

http://mashable.com/2013/02/14/obama-patent-trolls/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29

Post #5: The Power of Patents: Google sues British Telecom with Motorola Patents

This past class we learned about non-practicing entities that purchase patent rights to then sue companies that use that certain invention.  Although Google suing British Telecom with Motorola patents is not an example of this, it is essentially the same thing.  Since Motorola was bought out by Google, it gave Google the ability to own all of its patents and then use them to sue other companies who attempt to infringe.  In this case, Google was able to secure 17,000 patents and is still waiting to hear about 7,500 more, just to be able to use them as leverage over other companies.

This latest round of Google's lawsuits is especially interesting because it is coming after BT sued Google for claiming it infringed on patents of its own.  In response, Google is using the Motorola patents it recently purchased to counter sue.  This highlights the back and forth nature of patent wars, which seem to be never end nowadays.  We can only wait to see what the outcome will be.  

An interesting fact at the end of the article that I thought was worth mentioning is that "Only 5,462 [patents] were filed at the height of the technology boom in 2000, but more than 14,200 were lodged last year".  We can see the increasing importance of patents as everything is becoming even more competitive in the mobile market since it expects to increase to a 500 billion dollar industry in the next few years.  For these companies, owning these patents is what gives them a competitive edge and slowing down their competitors in litigation battles is all part of the game to own the most market share.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/9869327/Google-uses-Motorola-patents-to-sue-BT.html

Post #4: A Close Relationship Gone Astray

We've all heard about Apple suing Samsung because they were upset with how they designed their newest phones.  The media made it seem like an all out war between the two where no one would back down and that Apple and Samsung were and have always been mortal enemies.  However, after reading this article:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57568584-37/tim-cook-reportedly-opposed-patent-suits-against-samsung/

it is clear the relationship between the two is much more intertwined, then at least I had previously thought.  Seeing that Apple relied heavily on Samsung as a components supplier, the whole idea of going into court over a patent seemed ill-mannered to Tim Cook and Steve Jobs.  It seems that in this case not everyone was interested in just spending huge sums of money to sue one another because it would do much more then just resolve a patent dispute, it would also strain personal and professional relationships.  As mentioned in the article, Samsung and Apple began working very closely with each other and even the grandson of Samsung's founder ended up visiting Steve Job at home.  However, since the two companies never reached a reciprocal patent agreement, they were unable to to come to an agreement and the trial would surely take place.  Now, Apple is seeking ways to distance itself from reliance on Samsung parts.  It is interesting to see how these two companies relationships have evolved over time, and clearly they're in a stage where they're not so close anymore.

Post #3: Recognizing IP (Trademarks, Copyrights and Trade Secrets)

Today in class, we learned how to identify trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets.

1. Apparently, it is very cheap to hold a trademark and typically large corporations hold onto many throughout the world.  While one company may purchase a trademark in the United States, it is not applicable in another country.  A trademark is a logo, symbol, name or device used to identify a service.

2. Copyrights are a tool used to prevent someone from copying your product.  Nowadays, these are extremely common as musicians, software companies and the movie industry use copyrights to make it illegal to use their product without permission and often with financial compensation for themselves.  Even though there are websites that exist where you can download these files illegally, having these laws in place makes sure that at least the creators get some fair compensation and the violators are punished.

3. Trade secrets are any sort of information that is valuable and confidential.  These include: customer lists, sales or profit date, product weaknesses, internal designs and processes and procedures.  Most importantly, the trade secret is the crux that makes the company so successful because it is what gives its competitive advantage.  For example, my dad's company, Mixografia, which creates 3-dimensional hand paper prints, uses machines and processes (that my dad invented and patented) in order to create what he does.  His company is the only print-maker in the world that is able to create 3-dimensional prints and is what gives him the competitive advantage over other print makers in his field.

Post #2: Why am I taking this class?

I am taking this class to ultimately learn how to get and protect a patent if I ever invent something worthwhile.  Seeing as my dad holds numerous patents, I am interested to learn how he went about acquiring them and what will take to protect them.  Also, since the mobile industry is projected to grow to 500 billion in the coming year, taking a class in this field could prove to be quite useful later on.  Overall, I am curious to see what this class entails because as of now my knowledge about patents and the mobile industry is quite low.  I hope to use this class as a learning experience and gain insight into a sector I am not yet very familiar with.

Post #1: About Me

My name is Adam Remba, I am a second-year Political Economy and Geography double major from West Los Angeles .  This is the second class I have taken in the IEOR department and look forward to a great semester.  Currently, I am the Co-President of TAMID Israel Investment Group which runs an investment portfolio of International Equities/Equities with ties to Israel and I work for Campus Recycling and Refuse Services, leading a campaign that's directed towards Zero-Waste by 2020 on our UC Berkeley campus.  I enjoy skiing, soccer and basketball and anything sports related to Los Angeles.