Patents give companies competitive advantages on their invention of technology or process. It differentiates their products in the market and beats the competition.
But most of the cut-edge technologies are the foundations for developing new and more advanced ones. It is really important to give access to the patented technologies for further R&D. Such a right can be granted by licensing the existing technologies. Royalties are very expensive for companies - and they looking for ways to go around patents to get access to technologies. Often, it is the theft of intellectual property. But for intangibles the line between modifying the technology and creating a new one, or just simple stealing of legally protected patents is very blur.
This creates conflicts between the companies and leads to patent war among high tech giants. In the article published at Infoworld.com the author discusses how the judge invalidated 13 Motorola Mobility patent claims against Microsoft. Judge confirmed that Motorola's patents claims are 'indistinguishable' from a general purpose computer. Microsoft attorneys provided a detailed explanation and reference of each performed function to technical dictionaries, and journals, which proves that all the functions are for general purpose computer which makes Microsoft activities legal.
Patent War is a very expensive game affordable only for wealthy companies, with an access to the best attorneys. Legal battles like the one mentioned in the article are more about how well companies' attorneys can present the patent case to the judge.
http://www.infoworld.com/t/intellectual-property/judge-invalidates-13-motorola-mobility-patent-claims-in-microsoft-case-212498
I definitely agree. Patent wars can definitely be expensive, and the worst case is when a certain patent is not specific enough to be deemed appropriate.
ReplyDelete