Assignment 12: part 4

Building an IP Portfolio

Early adopters: people/institutions than take risks on new products, technologies or services. According to the Everett M. Rogers in Diffusion of Innovations, they make up 13.5% of the consumers who will adopt an innovation. They pull an innovation into their circle of family, friends or co-workers. They can make or break the market values of intellectual property upon which the innovation is based.

- This is pretty interesting. I actually would expect early adopters to make up a bigger distribution of people in industries. Especially right now with start-up craze in technology and in California. My confusion brought me to do some further research and I was able to find some of the common misconceptions about Roger's curve that really helped clarify what this all meant with regards to IP portfolio strategies. 

2 main misconceptions about this curve are::

1. Early adopters are 13.5% of the general population.
I totally fell for this conclusion when I first saw this curve. The problem - Rogers' curve is just a mathematical model, it doesn't give any conclusions about the real world though. The curve is not saying that there are 880 million early adopters in the world; it’s simply a visualization of the 13.5% of a population adopt early, in the context of innovation. They should not be considered a demographic but more of just a phenomenon that happens in industries.

2. Early adopters are opinion leaders.
This can be true, but is not necessarily so. It’s only true if later adopters follow the early adopters because they feel compelled to try the new product as well. 

Assignment 12: Part 3

IP MARKETPLACE STRAGETY:: micro (what we can control)

-       Open innovation: you don’t have to build everything yourself, term coined by Berkeley HAAS professor

-       We have a first to file system: start filing patents very early, file a provisional (not very expensive!)

-       Freedom to operate (FTO): know your market, this is how you can actually build a product
Wait, what is FTO though??
FTO = when testing or commercializing a product can be done without infringing valid intellectual property rights of others.

Since IP rights are specific to different jurisdictions, a "freedom to operate" analysis should relate to particular countries or regions where you want to operate. If you want to commercialize a new variety in one country, you might have complete freedom to operate if there are no patents or other IP rights covering that product.

However, you might not have the same freedom to operate if you want to export the seed to another country, where patents or other IP rights may have been already issued.

ASSIGNMENT 12: Part 2

TRADE SECRETS vs. PATENTS: how do you choose?

Advantages of trade secrets:
-Trade secret protection has the advantage of not being limited in time (patents last in general for up to 20 years). It may therefore continue indefinitely as long as the secret is not revealed to the public.

-Trade secrets involve no registration costs (though there may be high costs related to keeping the information confidential).
-Trade secret protection does not require compliance with formalities such as disclosure of the information to a Government authority.

Disadvantages of trade secrets:
-If the secret is embodied in an innovative product, others may be able to inspect it, dissect it and analyze it (i.e. "reverse engineer" it) and discover the secret and be thereafter entitled to use it. Trade secret protection of an invention in fact does not provide the exclusive right to exclude third parties from making commercial use of it. Only patents and utility models can provide this type of protection.
-Once the secret is made public, anyone may have access to it and use it at will.

-A trade secret is more difficult to enforce than a patent. The level of protection granted to trade secrets varies significantly from country to country, but is generally considered weak, particularly when compared with the protection granted by a patent.
-A trade secret may be patented by someone else who developed the relevant information by legitimate means.

Assignment 12: Part 1

NOTES FROM LECTURE 

IP MARKETPLACE DYNAMICS:: macro

Trade secrets vs. Patents

-       Patents are much more protected, no physical connection needed

-       Competitive advantage of IP by industry: patents are more important to the biotech people than software people

o   Why?
- Maybe there’s a more 1 to 1 relationship between patent and product with biotech
- R&D is so high for biotech, patenting is needed more

The Mobile Patent Wars

-       NPEs/Patent trolls entangled with other technological companies

o   Business model: to go after companies that don’t have enough money to pay for lawsuits (i.e. startups)

-       250K patents going into smartphones, maybe!

-       2010 was a peak year into IP activity

ASSIGNMENT 11

Video 1: Pool medical patents, save lives by Ellen 't Hoen

What is the video about? This video talks about patent practices regarding drug prices: new drugs are expensive to develop
- She discusses how to help with the HIV/AIDS phenomenon with better patent practices by having cheaper drugs at less wealthy countries
- She wants all countries to have new medicinal product
- She relates this to Nelson in Kenya who has high expectations of accessing new drugs at a cheap cost for patients like his own son!

How?
--> Medicines Patent Pool: having products go to market at a low cost 

Video 2: How I beat a patent troll by Drew Curtis

What is the video about? Fark.com CEO discusses patent trolls and what problems there are in the patent system that lead to the success of patent trolls

An impression of a patent troll

- The average patent troll lawsuit can take $2 million! So most companies settle out of the case, but Fark.com did not!
- Asked the patent troll to ask for screenshots of Fark of where the patent was violated (on news release via email)
- The case had no non-disclosure agreement
- 3 things learned::

+ If you can, don't fight the patent - fight the infringement

+ Make it clear that you have either no money at all or you'd rather spend your money fighting the lawsuit

+ Make sure you let the patent troll know that you will make this very annoying for the patent troll! 

- His final solution: to troll patent trolls out of existence! 

Video 3: Embrace the remix by Kirby Ferguson
What is this video about? Kirby says that creativity involves copying, transforming, and combining what's already out there!

American patents use this same notion that ideas only build upon each other, you do not invent something from nothing!

- I loved this Ted Talk, and it was so relevant to our IEOR class! Professor Tal has always taught us that plagiarism, in this class, is okay and even encouraged! This Ted Talk just further establishing this that creativity is about building products from older products and not just starting from nothing.

Video 4: Demand a more open-source government by Beth Noveck
What is this video about? The former deputy CTO of the White House talks about her idea of having a more open government in order to create better teams and networks.
- The government makes public goods, but we do not have institutions that are particularly good at helping with this! So how do we create "open-source government" policies?
- We do not spend enough money on reinventing our already established institutions, which is what we should be doing!
- We can learn from social media!
Why is Twitter so successful? It opens up its platform so we can learn from each other in new and exciting ways! We need to do this with the government

- This was a very interesting video, and I have to say - very relevant as I was tweeting about this and thus, being a part of an open platform that the speaker of this TedTalk speaks so greatly about! 

Assignment 10: Silly patents IV

Glasses with subliminal messages

Move over ray bans - there's a new pair of tinted glasses in town. And these glasses do more than provide shade from sunlight, they can control you.

The glasses include a pair of subliminal imaging spectacles which provides a pair of visual subliminal images designed and placed so as to merge into one image due to the stereoscopic effect of human vision. Consequently, this imparts a subliminal message to the user.

+ These glasses can be used as an aid for teaching and preventing bad habits such as smoking or drinking. 

Analysis of obviousness:: 

Though I added this patent to my list of silly patents found, I actually think this is the coolest patent in my list of 4 patents (hence it's the last one). Though the images and description kind of sound like a stretch, I think this patent could be of feasible value. 

A lot of people do not believe in the effects of subliminal messages, but if they do seem to have any effects - I'm sure those same effects can be seen from these glasses. I feel like this idea is definitely not obvious since it combines two different disciplines - the technology of technology with the glasses and the psychological effects of subliminal messages. 

Assignment 10: Silly patents III

Device for the treatment of hiccups

Hiccups are horrible and I don't know about you but drinking a bunch of water never works for me. But... I'm not so sure about this device as the means to relieve me of my misery.


A device for the treatment of hiccups specifically using a method and apparatus involving galvanic stimulation of the Superficial Phrenetic and Vagus nerves using an electric current.

Claim 1 uses a metallic cup-like vessel with 2 electrodes: one electrode for producing electricity adapted to be applied to the lip of the user and a second electrode electrically insulated from the first electrode being affixed to the vessel.

 

Analysis on usefulness::

This device will shock the user using its 2 electrodes every time the person hiccups. The goal is the shock will cause the person to stop hiccuping. I think that is quite useful considering that there aren't actually any real treatments for hiccups out there currently. I believe this product is very novel, as it combines ideas from two disciplines: electromagnetism in the realm of physics and the construction of the cup from modern technology. 

Not only is it novel, but there is a real use for this cup. Though it is a ridiculous idea to think about, this is actually one of the better silly patents I have heard of compared to other ones that I cannot see having a use in our society. 

Assignment 10: Silly patents II

BEERBRELLA

Don't you hate it when rays of sunlight damage to hoppy taste of your IPA? I don't care either, but the people who authored this patent must have been really passionate (or very influenced from the effects of beer) about this problematic situation...










This product, the "Beerbrella", provides a small umbrella which may be removably attached to a beverage container in order to shade the beverage container from the direct rays of the sun. The apparatus comprises a small umbrella approximately five to seven inches in diameter, although other appropriate sizes may be used within the scope of this product. 

+ The product can be used with either a solid, plastic or a cloth umbrella. 

+ The clip in the product can be made either of spring steel, passtic, or formed cardboard. 

+ Suitable advertisements can also be added to the umbrella for promotional purposes. 

Analysis of the patent regarding usefulness::

I do not understand the point of this patent. There really is not (even somewhat intelligent) reason that such a product should exist. Beer is not human skin, so I do not understand why rays of sunshine would damage the drink. Moreover, the author of this patent compares his "Beerbrella" invention to coffee sleeves for cups. I do not think  this comparison is at all warranted. Coffee sleeves have an actual purpose, namely to keep drinks insulated. However, using a "Beerbrella" to maintain coolness for your beer will be quite ineffective in my opinion. I think keeping your bar in an iced container (more similar to a coffee sleeve) would be more efficacious. Rather, I believe that the only argument this author can make for the purpose of this argument is for its amusement purposes.

Assignment 10: Silly patents I

ANTI-EATING FACE MASK 

Who hasn't tried to become healthier, especially with the goal of shedding a couple pounds? And let's face it, diets can be torturous. Still, you can convince yourself that eating healthy is the "right thing to do" and continue on dieting/exercising. If that stops working, however, you always have the following option -- that might look more similar to something you would find from a torture chamber. 

 An anti-eating face mask which includes a cup-shaped member conforming to the shape of the mouth and chin area of the user, together with a hoop member and straps detachably engageable with a user's head for mounting the cup-shaped member in overlying relationship with the user's mouth and chin area under the nose thereby preventing the ingestion of food by the user.

- It comprises a screen formed of a plurality of wires, said wires in said screen defining said openings there between.

Analysis on PRIOR ART:: 

I am not sure how "new and innovative" this patent is. It is basically a face mask, which already exists and I am sure there are face masks that only use wires (possibly part of some torture chamber?). The only unique part of this invention is its intention, to force someone not to eat... I think the author knows this and emphasizes on this intention -  the authors discusses how this patent would be a wonderful (let's disregard humane) way to fight obesity in America! Moreover, housewives wearing anti-eating face masks will be able to resist slipping in a few bites of the food they cook. Hmm, not so sure how I feel about the Real Housewives of Berkeley wearing these masks. 

This patent focuses more on intentionality than the actual product because well, the product itself is really basic and it would be pretty silly to talk about how to make a mask since the common man probably knows how a mask it most likely made. 

And with that, let's all go back to eating chocolate cake, mask-less.