Talk with technologists on patenting -- it is easier than you thought!

1. Patenting for
Technologists
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Platformation, Inc.
January 2012

2.  Technologists Be Aware – patenting is upon us
 Cases
 Who the players are
 Call for Technologists to Engage in Patenting
 Tools
OVERVIEW
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3. Technologists Be Aware
Be Involved in Patenting
Or
Suffer the consequences, like Google today
Patenting is Here
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4.  Google buys more than 2,000 patents from IBM to bolster its Android
defense
 Jan 2012. Google buys 217 patents from IBM
 Sep 2011. Google buys 1,023 patents from IBM
 Jul 2011. Google buys 1,030 patents from IBM
 Google buys Motorola Mobility Holdings for $12.5 billion
 Aug 2011. Including 17,000 patents.
 Apple wins patent skirmish against HTC
 Dec 2011. Wins against HTC with Apple’s US Patent 5,946,647.
 Apple/Microsoft beats Google/Intel for Notel’s patents
 Jul 2011. Pays $4.5 billion for 6,000 patents
 2008 — Kodak begins mining its patent portfolio
 1,100 digital imaging patents
 nearly $2 billion in fees over three years.
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RECENT PATENT NEWS

5. Motorola Mobility Holdings: 17,000 patents
vs
Kodak: 1,100 digital imaging patents
A patent decades ago is different from a patent today
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NOT YOUR FATHER’S PATENTS

6.  An example
 (use Apple’s US Patent 5,946,647 as example. That’s the one they won
against HTC in December 2011)
 You can get a PDF copy at
http://www.pat2pdf.org/patents/pat5946647.pdf
 Patent ABC – The only thing really (as in legally) matters is
the Claims section.
 Do not worry about anything else at the beginning when you read a
patent!
 Read the Claims session. It’s typically less than 1 page long.
 Patent ABC – Claim a system, not an abstract theory
 Patent ABC – To qualify as a patent, “What is claimed” must
be “useful”, “novel” and “non-obvious”.
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TECHNOLOGIST: MAKE SURE YOU
KNOW WHAT A PATENT IS

7.  Claim 1 of US 5,946,647 (the one used by Apple against HTC) is re-
produced below:
 “What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-based system for detecting structures in data and
performing actions on detected structures, comprising:
 an input device for receiving data;
 an output device for presenting the data;
 a memory storing information including program routines
including
 an analyzer server for detecting structures in the data, and for linking
actions to the detected structures;
 a user interface enabling the selection of a detected structure and a
linked action; and
 an action processor for performing the selected action linked to the
selected structure; and
 a processing unit coupled to the input device, the output device,
and the memory for controlling the execution of the program
routines.”
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A QUICK ANATOMY OF A PATENT
– THE CLAIM 1

8.  Did that Claim 1 feel like a patent to you?
 Your reaction probably was:
 That was it? (Correct answer: yes, that was it.)
 That thing was a patent? (yes, it was)
 I did more in my first C-programming class than that thing! (But
was yours “useful”, “non-obvious”, and “novel”?)
 Each of our monthly code reviews can generate 5 patents!
(Maybe. You just have to give it a try.)
 -- Well, the USPTO said yes, back in 1999. And it is good
for 20 years!
 It claimed a “system”, a utility, an apparatus, a device, etc., not
an abstract theory
 It was “novel”, as determined by the USPTO in 1999
 It was “useful”, as determined by the USPTO
 And it was “non-obvious”, as determined by the USPTO;
 SO – yes, it is a patent good in the United States for 20 years
from 1999.
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QUESTION TO YOU THE
TECHNOLOGIST

9.  US Congress – the ultimate source of patent law
 US federal courts – legal actions. US supreme court decides
cases from time to time, too.
 USPTO: about 6,000 patent examiners
 Many of the patent examiners have degrees in science
and engineering, just like you.
 Patent agents and lawyers: about 20,000 to 30,000
 Businesses specialized in buy and sell patents. And
middlemen.
 And the hundreds of thousands of you, the technologists,
whose work is the “raw material”
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A QUICK LOOK AT PLAYERS

10. You can do it
You probably cannot avoid doing it
Move upwards the food chain a little bit:
Treat Patenting as
Part of Your Daily R&D Production
And produce a lot of patents
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CALL FOR TECHNOLOGIST TO
SHOW UP

11.  An idea
 Provisional Patent application: file with the USPTO.gov web
site, you can do it yourself, a small fee.
 US Patent application: within a year from the above filing, file
the application.
 Typically you need a patent agent to prepare the work.
 $1500 or more fee.
 An application is published so it’s in the public domain.
 An application has value already.
 2-3 years to wait for the USPTO, then months to go back and
forth with an Examiner.
 Either granted a patent, or abandon the effort.
 A fee upon the “allowance” of the patent.
 Maintenance fees paid every 3-4 years, in hundreds or
thousands dollars.
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PATENTING – A SKETCH OF THE
PROCESS

12.  General search: Google Scholar
 Patent search
 http://www.freepatentsonline.com/search.html
 The original source: USPTO.gov
 http://www.uspto.gov/patents/process/search/
 Convenience tool: Pat2PDF.org, to get PDF
documents of a patent or an application.
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TOOLS

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