UPDATED 10:31 EDT / JANUARY 09 2012

The World Of a Patent: Infographic

If you’re fond of reading the news, you’re probably aware of the many patent infringement lawsuits around these days.  But if you’re not, and you don’t even have a clue what patents are, then I strongly recommend that you read on.

The Real Deal With Patents

So if you’re an innovator, patents are your bestfriends but at this day and age, patents seem to be the number one hindrance for innovators.  You see, a lot of companies are using patents not only to protect their inventions but to get ahead in the game.

An interesting infographic sheds some light as to how patents are being abused especially in the tech world.  According to the infographic, there are over 8 million patents on file with the United States and Trademark Office which includes innovations that drastically changed the world like the light bulb, ice machine, and the cotton gin.  But there are also absurd patents, as in patents for things you’d never think anyone would even think of like the “thermally refreshed bread” or toast, “method for concealing partial baldness” or combover – if you don’t know what this is, just look at Donald Trump ;), and the apparatus for simulating a high-five which is actually a disembodies robot arm that gives you a high five.

An interesting thought: if the 8 million patents were turned into an infomercial, it will run straight for 456 years.  and if you add the 3 million pending patents, the infomercial would run for 627 years.

Patents: A Sign Of Weakness

Of the 8 million existing patents, 30% or 2.4 million of them are for things that already exist.  This is seen by many as a sign of weakness.  These redundant patents are made in an attempt to capitalize on fundamental systems and behaviors in technology. Such patents include: backing up data online, one-click purchasing, pop-up windows on the web, and providing a user interface, to name a few.

Patent Control

In the US, Intellectual Ventures is one of the top five ventures that own patents with a whopping 35,000 patent portfolio.  Of the patents they own, 98% are other people’s ideas.  In short, they get 90% of their revenue from licensing fees, they have already collected over $1 billion through this.

The Power Of Patents

When you own patents, you gain the upper hand as it gives you the right to sue or force others into a licensing agreement, which grants you some sweet royalty fees.  Some entities bulk up on patents but they don’t really use them, they just earn money from owning these patents.  In the past 20 years, innovators already lost $500 billion by paying licensing fees to patent holders.

Patent Grabbers And Profitteers

As we all know, Apple is locked in various patent cases with rivals in different parts of the world.  Their main target: Android-trotting devices such as Samsung and HTC.  You’d think that Apple would just end the riff by having a licensing agreement with Android ODM partners, much like what Microsoft did, as Apple could earn as much as $7 million per day if they opt for this path.  But Apple’s main goal is bring down Android, after all, it’s the dying wish of the late Steve Jobs.

On the contrary, Apple has no qualms about paying settlements for patent infringement cases it’s lost.  Apple has been in a long term legal dispute over multitouch technology with Elan Microelectronics Corp. but last week Apple settled the dispute by paying $5 million for a cross-licensing agreement for the following patents U.S. 5,825,352 and 7,274,353 held by Elan and patents 5,764,218 and 7,495,659 held by Apple.

Patent Philanthropist

If everyone is focused on the money-making aspect of patents, there’s one person who did not get greedy.  Tim Berners-Lee, the developer of the World Wide Web.  Believe it or not, WWW is not patented, though this could have brought him gazillions of dollars.  He believes that the world wide web should be available to everyone, and patenting his innovation would just hinder that.

“Most of the technology […] had all been designed already.  I just had to put them together.  It was a step of generalizing, going to a higher level of abstraction,” Berners-Lee stated.

patents infographic

Source: http://frugaldad.com

 


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