Last Assignment – What I’ve Learned

Coming in to this class late, I had been hearing from a few of my peers about a class on patents and the patent industry.  As an economics major, it sounded a little foreign to me but I thought I would give it a chance and take the class.  Right away, we started moving into the role of NPE’s and patent trolls and their effect on the patent industry as well as the economy as a whole.  In a prior class I had taken at Cal, we focused on the legal proceedings regarding a plaintiff seeking damages from a defendant.  Many of the examples we discussed surrounded damages paid for patent infringement.  Even though I was learning the legal side of settlements, I did not fully understand the patent system as well as what can be termed “infringement”. 

With the help of this course, I was able to understand all the inner working of a patent infringement lawsuit.  Due to the ambiguous assignments where we were free to do our own research to put into our blogs, I found myself constantly looking up and analyzing more and more cases while becoming more informed and knowledgeable in the process.  Going back to my last blog post, this was a big learning moment for me outside the topic of patents.   Instead of being forced to study a specific topic or article that would be common in other courses, Tal let us be free in what we were to study.  By being able to read the articles I enjoyed and report on them, I found myself doing more and more research than I would have done if I didn’t enjoy the topic.  Further, I found myself more and more intrigued by the subject of patent litigation and now constantly check the latest headlines in infringement cases. 

Besides what Tal taught in class and the work I did on my own, I learned so much from all of my classmates.  Whether it was looking into an issue they had posted in their blogs or hearing their feedback on my posts, the discussions we had truly helped my understanding of the patent industry.  Once again, thank you to Tal as well as everyone else involved in this course.  I really appreciated all your contributions in my learning.

Thanks!!!

Last Assignment – The Use of Social Media in for Class

First off, I have to admit that I was a little skeptical about taking a class that was anything but conventional.  With no midterms or finals, I thought that taking this class with Tal would be completely boring and full of meaningless work.  However, I could not have been more incorrect with my assumptions.

Looking at all of the other classes I’ve taken at Cal, they pretty much followed the same rigorous syllabus and grading format.  Weekly readings and assignments followed by a few midterms, then an end of the year final.  Until taking this class, I thought this was the best way to learn.  Though that may be true for some other subjects such as math and science, the subjects of patents couldn’t be summed up the same.  Looking back at the semester as a whole and all the work we did in class, I can’t believe how much information I’ve retained on the subject.  Patents used to be a completely foreign concept to me, but now I feel that I can speak confidently when discussing the subject.

My favorite part of the class was the fact that we were consistently interacting with our classmates through social media.  Before college, I never even had a Facebook let alone a twitter, YouTube channel, and my own blog so communicating with others online was completely new to me.  I loved the idea of all the comments on the blog posts and video posts.  By hearing each other’s opinions and criticisms, I was able to focus on what I did right as well as the things I could improve on.  Whether it be the structure of my arguments or my understanding of a topic, it was very useful to hear comments from others that may or may not have the same understanding that I did.  Social media, in that way, greatly improved my understanding of learning about the topics discussed in class, as well as learning in general.  Thank you to Tal for forcing me to use these social platforms as well as to all the other students for your feedback on my work.  It has truly been a great semester and I look forward to potentially furthering my knowledge of patents with Tal in the future. 

Thanks!!

Assignment #12: Intangible Assets in the S&P 500

In this post, I will be discussing an article that touches on one of Efrat’s points regarding intangible assets in the S&P 500.  Below is the link to the article that I will be touching on.

http://www.equities.com/editors-desk/investing-strategies/alternative-investments/finding-the-84-of-stock-market-value-that-most-investors-ignore

 As Efrat showed in her presentation, as well as the chart I’ve included below, the amount of intangible assets in the US market has dramatically increased over time.

From 1975 til the present day, intangible assets have increase from 17% to 84%.  That’s almost a 500% increase over a 40 year period.  In this context, I use the term “intangible assets” as a way to describe things that will bring a future economic value that do not exist in physical space.  A perfect example to this is the value of intellectual property, such as copyrights and patents.  However, this article touches on different aspects than intellectual property, but that of human capital.

Milton Friedman, one of the most renowned economists in history, claimed that “total wealth includes all sources of ‘income’. One such source is the productive capacity of human beings.”  Instead of focusing on the actual values of patents themselves, I want to focus on the aspect of human capital.  Patents don’t just become filed and granted out of thin air, it takes brilliant minds to think of and develop some of the ideas that eventually become patented.  Aside from the large costs of R&D, the compensation paid to personnel such as developers, lawyers, etc. far exceed the tangible costs of developing a product. 

The article goes further in depth on human capital but I prefer to end my discussion where I have.  The rise of the value intangible assets in the market shows the level of innovation we are arising to.  With more and more innovators and developers attempting to patent their ideas, I would not be surprised to see the 84% rise even further over the next few years.  What do you think?

Thanks!

Assignment #12: Eastern Texas Cities in Patent Litigation

So for this post, I will be analyzing an article related to a topic well discussed in Monday’s class: The role of Eastern Texas in patent litigation.  Below is a link to the article.

http://www.chron.com/business/technology/article/Apple-sued-84-times-in-Texas-patent-courts-in-6-ye-6145522.php#photo-7681181

Dylan Baddour, the author of the article, begins by stating that Apple has both won and lost patent cases over the years, but six of their cases took place in the Eastern Texas cities such as Marshall and Tyler.  Historically, the towns have been seen as uneducated would therefore not fully understand the terms discussed in the cases.  Juries as well as judges have been criticized for being overly sympathetic to patent trolls and opposed by large corporations such as Apple or Samsung.  However, the pro-plaintiff sentiment from an uneducated jury is not the only reasoning for patent litigation being brought to the Lone Star State.

Michael Smith, an IP lawyer for many years, claims that patent cases are just easier to hold in the small cities of Texas. In a previous case he worked on with Texas Instruments,  he filed a case in Dallas only to being delayed and delayed due to the high criminal rate of the metropolitan town.  Marshall on the other hand, is not home to a prison nor a US attorney’s office.  With few criminal cases taking precedence over patent suits, cases were able to be heard much quicker and therefore at a cheaper cost.  After a successful first case, TI then ran its whole portfolio through Marshall courts. 

With more and more patent suits being filed in Marshall, the town court became one of the first members of the patent pilot program.  And with it, more and more cases found their way to Marshall and the town court became more and more experienced in patent law and litigation.  With more and more cases being brought to Marshall courts, the city began to reap the economic benefits with it.  More cases meant more lawyers in the town, who then spent money in bars, restaurants, and hotels.  Soon, major law firms decided to build large offices in the city and create jobs and boost city tax revenue.  So even though Marshall may be thought of as a plaintiff-pity town, the economic benefits brought into the market are more than enough to make up for it.

Thanks!

Assignment #11: Drew Curtis on How to Beat a Patent Troll

Curtis and his company Fark.com have been one of the many victims of NPEs trolling patents.  The company fighting his firm held a ridiculous patent that held the rights to the ”creation and distribution of news released via email”.  It’s hard to believe that such an idea can be patentable, but erroneous patents slip through the system and give trolls fuel to target others. 

As he continues his talk, Curtis talks about the worst part about patent litigation.  For example, when a patent trolls sues a corporation such as Amazon or Apple, the burden of the work falls on the defendant.  Simply put, the defendant must find significant proof to show that their company did not infringe on the plaintiff’s patent.  To me, I take this to be the complete opposite of the legal system such that the train of thought is guilty until proven innocent.  It is for this reason that patent trolls can become successful in their witch hunts of litigation.

Not only can these cases be an annoying burden on a defendant, it can also be very costly.  The average case takes around 18 months and a near $2 million to finance even in the case of a defendant victory.  Due to this, many infringement cases result in settlements that are protected by a non-disclosure agreement.  This gives trolls the ability to say that they had won the case regardless of the terms of the settlement. 

After successfully fighting off the troll, Curtis claims to have learned three things about fighting trolls: 1) Fight the infringement, not the patent. 2) Make it known that you either have no money to settle with or that you are willing to spend the money you do have on fighting the case.  3) Lastly, make the troll know that you and your company are willing to be as annoying and difficult as possible in fighting the charges.  Though this is not a fool proof plan, it is a way to prevent trolls from trying to take advantage of you or your firm. 

Thanks!

Assignment #11: Johanna Blakely on Fashion

Hey Everyone!

So for this blog post (as well as the next) I will be talking about one of the TED Talks we watched in class.  In this post, I will be focusing on Johanna Blakely’s talk at USC: Lessons from Fashion’s Free Culture. 

The main point that Johanna points out in her lecture is the differences between the fashion industry and copyrighted industries such as film or music.  To begin, she touches on some key issues facing the fashion world.  First of which, is the role of patents in fashion.  Simply, there aren’t any and the US Patent and Trademark Office’s reasoning is that designs and clothes are too utilitarian of item to be patentable.  Therefore, there is basically no way for designers to protect their design from being copied. 

Knock-off clothing is a huge market for those who want to wear the best styles without emptying their pockets.  By contrasting some pictures of brand name designs next to their cheap knock-offs, Blakely is able to demonstrate the small differences between the expensive designs and their respective copy.  The reason that Gucci and Prada brands sells for so much more than their replicas are due to the use of higher quality fabrics and materials.  Each type of clothing has a market which is why the fashion industry is still able to operate.

The way Blakely compares the fashion industry to markets such as film and music is based on the aspect of copyrights.  Films, music, literature, are all eligible to be protected by intellectual property rights so it should follow that those industries are more successful right?  Blakely speaks to the opposite and demonstrates that industries not protected by property rights such as fashion and culinary soar past copyrightable industries in regards to sales.  So even though the fashion industry is not eligible to be a copyrightable industry, it still brings in billions of dollars in revenue and is constantly progressing in terms of creativity and innovation.  This talk was a great example as to how intellectual property is not always necessary to promote innovation.

Assignment #10: The Pedal Operated Mower

So for this post, I will talking about anther wacky invention: The Pedal Operated Mower.

The patent combines all the fun of mowing your lawn with riding a bike.  Simply, this patent outlines a device that rides just like a bike, but has a rear-mounted grass clipper system that operates as you ride.   It sounds like a great idea until you let your children ride the contraption and they end up injuring themselves or another person. 

Anyway, this invention is a direct derivative of the previously patented Exercycle Mower Apparatus.  That device, as I will refer to as the EMA hereafter, is basically the same idea except that the grass cutting blades are located beneath the rider instead of behind them.  However, in their patent application, the Pedal Operated Mower state its differences such that “None of these [previous] patents discloses all of the specific details of the present invention in such a way as to bear upon the patentability of any claims of the present invention.”  Basically, my understanding is that this invention, though slightly modified from the prior arts, capitalized on the lack of specifications of the previous patents and therefore allowed it to be patentable. 

This seems like a fun, although dangerous way, to mow a lawn but I still don’t understand why anyone would see a need for this invention.  Either way, the patent office accepted the innovators request and thus it has now made it on to my blog.

Thanks!