Without wishing to be political, I have to say that I am worried about the future of innovation in light of “external innovation fatigue factors” that arise when government creates imposing barriers for innovators, especially for small businesses and lone entrepreneurs. As we note in Conquering Innovation Fatigue, the problem is often one of unintended …
The recently published Berkeley Patent Survey is one of the most comprehensive studies to date on the use of patents by startups and entrepreneurs. PatentlyO discusses the study and offers some helpful insights. The study shows that startups are using patents more than was previously recognized, for past analysis based was limited by incomplete USPTO …
Startups and Patents: New Study Sheds Light on Practices and Reasons for Filing Read More »
In my ongoing work on analyzing the intellectual property landscape in biofuels, one of the most impressive companies I’ve run across is Amyris, a renewable products company whose clever use of synthetic biology goes far beyond biofuels. Amyris was founded by Kinkead Reiling, Neil Renninger, and Jack D. Newman who met at Berkeley and founded …
Amyris: Great Story of Open Innovation and Renewable Products Read More »
The ability of an inventor to profit from an invention for a limited time, while also sharing the advances with the world to further knowledge, is the genius of the patent system. The availability of patent protection has done much to advance the economy of the United States and other nations that have shown respect …
Weakened IP Rights as an Innovation Fatigue Factor Read More »
One of the real champions of innovation and entrepreneurship, Brian Fried, has created a successful new radio program to meet the needs of inventors and entrepreneurs: Got Invention Radio at
As an inventor and US patent agent, one of my painful experiences in the pursuit of patents at past employers and on my own has been unexpected encounters with prior art. Even after serious and careful searching, one may later find that someone else pursued a very similar idea many years ago. Like the Good …
When Inventions Are Ahead of Their Time, Long-Term IP Strategy Becomes Essential Read More »
The latest Journal of Product Innovation Management (JPIM), an excellent journal from PDMA for those interested in innovation and new product development, has an article that describes an approach to disruptive innovation that we developed at Kimberly-Clark Corporation when I was there as Corporate Patent Strategist. “Disruptive Innovation and the Need for Disruptive Intellectual Asset …
Disruptive Intellectual Assets: New Article Published in JPIM Read More »
One of the most interesting patent attorneys on the blogosphere is the inimitable Gene Quinn of IPWatchdog.com. His top five patent stories of 2009 are especially noteworthy. He doesn’t exactly hold back on his opinions about these stories, and for the most part I have to agree. All of these stories fit in with the …
Death panels have been a hot topic for speculation from some folks worried about health care reform, but in the world of innovation, genuine death panels have long been in place in corporations. Innovation death panels, disguised as intellectual property review committees or IP review boards, have been sending great inventions and great business concepts to …
Death Panels for Innovation: How Are Your Corporate IP Review Boards Doing? Read More »
While our book, Conquering Innovation Fatigue, has a lot to say on innovation and managing innovation, we also have important sections on intellectual asset strategy. An entire chapter, for example, is dedicated to intellectual asset tools for dealing with disruptive innovation. One of the key concepts we discuss is what we call “360 IA” (three-hundred …
Thinking Beyond Patents: Why You Need 360 IA (Holistic Intellectual Assets) Read More »