Perhaps the Patent System Isn't Broken?

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/22/opinion/patent-system-isnt-broken.html?_r=0

This week a response to a New York Times article from the Executive Vice President of Qualcomm came to my attention. The article argues that the patent system is not broken.

The author agrees with the majority consensus that U.S. patent system has some serious problems that need addressing. However, the author reasons this litigation nonsense goes past just the patent world. He blames the entire legal system for these issues. In his mind, the sector of patent law is not flawed in itself, yet rather the whole system is flawed. Rosenberg goes so far as to say that the "smartphone wars are a myth propagated by those with an economic interest in tipping the scale toward those who build on inventions versus those invent". This goes against the article that both the professor as well as many links that some of you have wrote about. I understand why a reader might say this, as the smartphone war in Silicon makes for a good article. Theres nothing like a battle between two corporate titans, let a lone a all-out slugfest.

While Rosenberg may indeed be right to an extent, the patent system is largely flawed and would benefit from a restructuring. While its true that "our patent system has played a critical role in attracting investment", it now is used as a weapon to prevent innovation and natural progress.

Do you agree with Donald Rosenberg? Should we blame our entire legal system or is it more the patent legal sector that deserves blame? Why or why not? Let me know what you think below!

Examination of Samsung v. Apple

The article that was emailed last week was quite interesting.

To summarize for those of you who didn't read the article or because you aren't in 190G, The article examined the current legal battle between Samsung and Apple. The battle stems from many different patents, most of which have to do with Smartphone technology.

In my opinion, Samsung deserves to lose. Although Samsung has been very innovative, almost every smartphone's design is based off of Apple 1st generation iPhone. I am well-prepared for many of you to disagree with that statement below. But at the end of the day, Samsung copied Apple. While Apple may be the winner so far, the article implies that currently this battle is a stalemate. If that's really true, then Samsung becomes the true winner of the this war.

Even though I think Samsung should pay Apple for copying various technology, I give Samsung credit for executing something that even Steve Jobs would approve.

"Good artists copy, great artists steal." - Steve Jobs


What do you think? Let me know below!

3rd Class

Last class we focused on the legal wars that companies have had with each other. There are many famous cases that have recently taken place, perhaps most famously Samsung V.S. Apple. We also went over the many different legal entities. The International Trade Commission (ITC) is one such example, which is a quasi-legal venue where many patent cases are heard. The ITC has faster proceedings than District courts, so companies often prefer them. However, the ITC cannot award damages, only can grant injunctions. So the ITC has its pros and cons.

Other things covered were also important. A main idea that the Professor talked about was that a Patent protects an idea, not a implementation. Perhaps the most striking thing that we discussed was that Patents can be sold, bought, or traded. It never occurred to me that this was possible. Or that there are businesses with the sole purpose of having entities buy these patents.

We covered a lot more material this class than other classes before. I hope future classes are like this.

Incorporating My Skydeck Company, Meerkat

Hey people,

As some of you know, I just got accepted into the CET Skydeck incubator, with my company "Meerkat". As CEO it's my job of much of the business aspects of the daily runnings.This last week we recently incorporated in the state of Delaware as an S-Corp. We incorporated as an S-Corp for many reasons too long to explain in this blog. We are currently in the process of trademarking our logo, as well as filing patents. We hired a team of lawyers from WilmerHale to do much of this.

The funny thing is the lawyers actually forgot to mention trademarking/copyrights altogether until I brought it up! (what the heck are we paying them for?!) The lawyers were humored that they forgot to bring this up. So we are currently in the process of filing copyrights and trademarks. We still haven't covered the issue of trade secrets though, as we have been more lately been dealing with Intellectual Property documents related to my team of engineers.  If you have any questions about anything I said, comment below! I'd be glad to help!

2/3/13 Class

Hey world,

Last Monday's class was very enjoyable. The professor spoke mostly about Copyrights and Trademarks. Trademarks are a right to a logo or symbol, for example "Microsoft" or "apple". While a Copyright can be a more more wide range of things. An example of a copyright would be the "CAL" cursive logo that UC Berkeley places on Athletic apparel.

We also learned about what a trade secret is. This is slightly confusing when taking about what is IP and what is not IP. Trade secrets however can be summarized into something a company or entity does that is complex and unique. This could be a way of doing business, a piece of a product, or anything "secret" having to do with a company's daily "tradings".

I must admit, these titles can be confusing to differentiate, as some of these titles seem to overlap. Hopefully some of you can clear this up for me below!

1st Post...

Hey world,

I'm taking IEOR 190G to know more about Patents. Half of building a successful company is done on the legal side. Nowadays, companies wage war on each other not only in Best Buy, company showrooms, and living rooms, but also in the U.S. Circuit Courts.

Currently, I am CEO of a mobile application company developing a smartphone app called Meerkat. We recently just acquired funding, and look to make deals with major industry leaders, such as Visa, Wounded Warrior Project, and Applebee's. Most recently, we have secured CET Skydeck office space.

I look forward to a productive semester.

- Michael McDonnell