Assignment #13 Class reflection and future

Hey guys,

In this last post I will reflect on the class and I will talk about what I have learned. First of all I want to thank professor Tal for all the hard work he has done with teaching this course. I saw how passionate you were about this subject and it really inspired me to learn more about patents. This course has been valuable to me in so many different way. Before taking this course I had zero clue what a patent was but now I can proudly say that I know all the basic facts about patents and more. I can easily identify the claims and I now posses the skills needed to file a patent which will definitely be useful in the future. I was able to learn that one does not need to be a genius to file a patent any idea that is non-obcvious and novel can get a patent. In the future I want to go to law school and after taking this course I have developed a big interest in pursuing patent law. I think the patent system has a lot of loop holes and I hope one day I can make a difference to improve the system. Aside from the patent knowledge I learned a lot about the use of social media in learning and sharing information. I have never really used social media on a large scale but during this class I learned how to run a blog and I created my youtube channel and twitter account. Overall this class has been very rewarding and I highly recommend it to anyone who has the slightest interest in learning about patents. 

Assignment #13 Social media and Collaborative Learning

Hey guys,

In this installment I will talk about the collaborative learning and social media that we used in this class. Before this class I never realized how useful social media could be when it comes to learning. I always saw social media as a way to solely interact with friends and connect with others. I really liked the fact that all our assignments required a blog and youtube post because I was able to learn a lot through others. Before this class I was intimidated by speaking into a camera but now I am very comfortable as it comes second nature to me. I’m glad I have a blog because it is something employers will really like whenever I interview for a job. Before coming into this class I never had a twitter account and now I have a patent based twitter account with over 50 followers including some patent lawyers and patent experts. One thing I did not thing was so effective was commenting on videos and blogs. I think this became to repetitive at times and everyones comments were similar. I wish professor Tal or someone more knowledgeable would have given us more feedback on out homework. Other than that I think utilizing social media as a way of learning is very helpful in mastering the material.

Assignment #12 Efrat's lecture on Intellectual Property Part 2

Hey guys,

In this installment I will continue talking about intellectual property as a strategic business asset. In addition I will touch upon the increasing size of the IP marketplace and I will talk about the four key external forces that impact the IP marketplace. I will conclude by talking about the IP strategy for growth.

In our lecture Efrat talked about the ever-increasing size of the Intellectual property marketplace and she used the mobile patent wars as an example. Currently 250,000 patents have been filed for smartphones and that number is projected to go up. In the last five years or so a myriad of multi billion dollar deals have taken place for IP acquisition. One of the biggest acquisitions was Googles buyout of Motorola.

The IP market is impacted by four main external forces.

1. IP litigation is at an all time high
2. the patent transaction markets are currently very active
3. All the global competition is causing a change in the IP playing field 
4. the U.S patent and trademark office is both overloaded and underfunded which is a big problem. Another factor which is not one of the main four but still impacts the IP market drastically is the role that non practicing entities play. They just file hundreds of patents, wait around and file lawsuits against companies for patent infringement, which is why they are referred to as patent trolls

The last topic I want to address is IP strategy for growth. This was probably the most interesting part of Efrat’s lecture because we learned where the IP market is going in the future. The main idea is to grow IP over the course of its life cycle into a strategic business asset. First you develop an IP position, than you portfolio commercialization and monetization and finally you perform portfolio liquidation. Efrat went over some of the the key points to consider when growing an IP portfolio to maximize valuation. These included:

-freedom to operate

-hedge against litigation

-attract buyers and investors 

-monetization 

-and liquidation value

Thank you for tuning in and hope you were able to learn something new about Intellectual Property.

Assignment #12 Efrat's lecture on Intellectual Property

Hey Guys,

In this blog post I will be discussing Efrat Kasznik’s lecture on the role of intellectual property as a strategic business asset. First of all I want to thank and introduce our guest lecturer. Kasznik is the founder and president of the Foresight evaluation Group and a lecturer at Stanford. She received her MBA from Berkeley’s Haas school of business. 

First I will give an overview of the IP Marketplace. In her lecture Efrat showed us a graph that showed intangible assets make up 80% of the S&p 500’S market value. We also learned about the difference in consumer products vs. digital products. Consumer products are easy to patent as long as it is non-obvious and the patent office deems your innovation patentable. However, in the case of digital products the supreme court has ruled that you cannot patent software or digital products this is mainly because there is nothing proprietary about software.

There are four types of IP

1. copyrights - which is original work of the author, and this entails automatic protection for the duration of the authors life + 70 years
2. trademarks - refer to word, name, symbol, or device used in trade to distinguish goods. These are indefinite as long as they are used commercially 
3. trade secrets - refer to business items/info and they have some form of economic value and are usually kept confidential. Trade secrets have indefinite life.
4. Patents- Give the owner the right to exclude others from making, using or selling products covered by invention in defined territory. They have to be novel and non-obvious. Patents are granted for 20 years after filling.

In my next installment I will go into more depth on how to effectively use Intellectual Property as a strategic business asset.

Assignment #11 Ted Talk Part 2

In this blog post I will continue talking about another Ted talk which I found very interesting. In his 

Ted talk titled, Embrace the Remix, Kirby Ferguson talks about creativity. What's really interesting is that he says, "Creativity is not about coming up with something that the world has never seen before -it’s about copying, transforming and combining what’s already out there." Kirby uses Bob Dylan's music as an example of using copying, transforming and combining to show that this method can lead to creative outcomes. However, Kirby talks about patent laws and how they run counter to this notion that we build on the work of others. Instead, these laws and laws around the world use the rather awkward analogy of property. We need to be able to build off of others property in order to keep innovation going. I really enjoyed this ted talk because it was similar to Johanna Blakely's ted talk on fashion, in which she also encourages copying. I found both ted talks relatable to the class because professor Tal always urges us to copy other people's work and build ideas off of it.

Assignment #11 Ted Talk Fashion

In this blog post I will discuss Johanna Blakely's ted talk: lessons from fashions free culture. In this ted talk Johanna talks about how we need to build off each others ideas. In addition she talks about utilitarian objects which can't be patented. She says we need to copy one another and become more innovative. This is similar to what professor Tal told us in class: we need to copy each other because that is the best way to learn and be innovative. One of the lines that really got my attention was "without ownership their is no incentive to innovate." Many times Non practicing entities prevent inventors from being innovative because they are always filing lawsuits against them. Copying gives us a much broader palate and we are able to establish certain trends of innovation.



I think if more of us thought in this way we would be more innovative. We would challenge ourselves and others to think outside the box. I used to be anti copying but this video really changed my perspective on the copying culture.

Assignment #10 silly patents Part 2

In this blog post I will continue with another silly patent. Patent US 6895967, a condom with an inflatable portion. Why is this patent so revolutionary you may ask? Well imagine a condom but now their is an inner wall and outer wall where you can pump air in. In other words you can simulate the idea of having a bigger penis by just adding air to a condom. Inventors have experimented with different materials, which have been structurally modified to provide increased sexual pleasure. Examples of these would include the ribbed condom for female stimulation and the lambskin for the male. So far, however, only moderate stimulation has been achieved. This invention builds off prior art of a regular condom but is still non-obvious because no one has previously invented a condom with an air chamber. Although I doubt anyone would find any use for this it could potentially be used as a gag gift. This patent goes to show that anything can be patented even the most ridiculous inventions.

Assignment #10 silly patents

In this post I will talk about patent USD539422 S1, the thong diaper. This patent has a pretty straightforward explanation. It's is a diaper for anyone who needs adult diapers, but instead of being designed as a usaul diaper it has a thong like design. This invention is good for anyone who wants to add some type of diversity to their diaper collection as it could be very fashionable. This patent was issued to Mary Maalouf in May of 2007. Unfortunately this item is not sold in stores. Sorry to any of you guys who were interested in purchasing a thong diaper. Here is a link to a funny SNL skit about the thong diaper.



https://myspace.com/nickieblueyes/video/snl-diaper-thong-skit/55142013

Assignment #9 Patent litigation part 3

In this post I will talk a little more about the effects that NPE's have on businesses. In addition I will talk about the top 10 businesses that were targeted in 2013. In 2013 Patent trolls filed 19% more lawsuits against companies in comparison to 2012. This is a huge problem as many big businesses are the main targets of these trolls and most times that a lawsuit is filed the business ends up losing a ton of money in a settlement deal with the patent trolls. In the last year patent trolls have made headlines in the political agenda as many people are fighting to somehow get rid of them or take away the amount of power they possess. Even President Obama said in his 2013 state of the union address that we need sometime of patent reform in order to curb needless litigation. In 2013 Patent trolls sued over 4,800 different entities and 2600 companies. A crazy statistic that I found interesting is that patent trolls sued AT&T 54 times in 2013 which is more than once a week.



Here is the list of the top 10 companies with the most lawsuits filed against them

1. AT&T
2. Google
3. Verizon
4. Apple
5. Samsung
6. Amazon
7. Dell
8. Sony
9. Huawei
10. Blackberry

Something interesting to note here is that all of these companies are in the tech industry and this is a big problem especially since these companies are responsible for so many innovations that effect our lives.

Assignment #8 Patent litigation part 2

In the post I will continue talking about patent litigation by non practicing entities. I will be focusing on the controversy that has surrounded patent trolls. A lot of times you here people criticize patent trolls because they cause inventors to be less innovative. If there is some troll with a patent giving you a hard time with your invention than one might get discouraged and stop thinking of new inventions. Patent trolls are also labeled as "thieves” since many see their work as a money making scheme without any positive outcome. Since non practicing entities are not a business or have any market competition than many complain that they have unfair trade practices. About 90% of lawsuits involving patent trolls end in a settlement in which the patent trolls are paid off the amount they ask for.Currently their has been much debate over the issue of how to stop patent trolls and many people are working to change the power that these patent trolls poses.

Assignment #8 Patent litigation by NPE

In this post I will be talking about patent litigation by non practicing entities commonly known as patent trolls. Patent trolls are entities that have lots of patents and therefore accuse many companies of patent infringement. They threaten to sue companies unless they get the money they ask for. Many people think of patent trolls in purely a negative fashion because they scam others by applying for a ton of patents than making money off other people/companies. However, to a certain extent patent trolls are the ones who enforce the whole patent system. They make sure that no one is infringing on patents. Personally I think the patent trolls are scammers because they discourage innovation and only care about making money from others by doing nothing but having a patent.