Comments on: Business Strategy: Use Law to Your Advantage

By: Rob

Rob — Fri, 16 Dec 2005 15:17:31 +0000

Jason,
Good point. And many times companies infringe upon patents accidentally, as they develop something already created somewhere else. But if you create something new as the normal course of your work, does it deserve to be patentable? There is very little risk in that, so why get the reward?

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 16 Dec 2005 05:23:50 +0000

I think that the current RIM and NTP lawsuit puts the pRoblem into focus. I’m not a lawyer, but it seems bizarre that NTP, which doesn’t actually produce anything, can block the usage of the Blackberry. I mean, they’re just trolling for a settlement – they lose if Blackberry actually closes down. Vistio, another small company, is trying the same thing with Microsoft. Patent trolling does not strike me as adding economic value to anybody except the lawyers who run these cases. I’d also argue that patents, especially in software patents, are pRobably less valuable then most people think (unless you have the cash to sue the hell out of anyone you think violates your patent).

By: Rob

Rob — Thu, 15 Dec 2005 19:44:48 +0000

But I think that was a bad deal for consumers. I’ve always believed that patent law hasn’t kept up with the times, much like law in general. In normal situations, companies evalute reward vs. risk for business decisions. Patents are used to encourage risk taking for ventures where the risk and reward are both very high. Would Amazon pursue 1-click if it was not patentable? Sure they would. Would Merck committ billions of $$$ and years of research to drug development if it wasn’t patentable? No, they wouldn’t. If a project is low enough in risk that a company would pursue it, even if it wasn’t patentable, then in my opinion, it should not be eligible for patent protection.

By: Matt Certo

Matt Certo — Thu, 15 Dec 2005 16:20:45 +0000

Rob…I see law and regulation as an element in an organization’s environment. The ones who embrace it and/or continually calculate its relevance stand a better chance of posturing themselves strategically. I think of Amazon.com’s patenting of the ‘1-click ordering’ system and legally shutting out barnesandnoble.com from duplicating its process. To me, that ruling was a huge turning point for Amazon.com.