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Wikipedia for Patents

Written by: Brad Feld

Article Overview: John Funk, an entrepreneur (I’m an investor in John’s newest company – Evergreen IP) and friend has a innovative proposal up concerning changing the rules on the current patent system. I’ve been on both sides of the patent aisle with John – we like to joke that early on in our relationship John’s company sued one of my companies (and then my company sued John’s company back) for patent infringement (the companies settled several years later for a cross license and $1 – much to the delight of the lawyers who got all the bucks.) Fortunately we got past all that crap and have developed a nice friendship.

Wikipedia for Patents

John Funk, an entrepreneur (I’m an investor in John’s newest company – Evergreen IP) and friend has a innovative proposal up concerning changing the rules on the current patent system. I’ve been on both sides of the patent aisle with John – we like to joke that early on in our relationship John’s company sued one of my companies (and then my company sued John’s company back) for patent infringement (the companies settled several years later for a cross license and $1 – much to the delight of the lawyers who got all the bucks.) Fortunately we got past all that crap and have developed a nice friendship.

John’s proposal is straightforward – let’s change the rules so patent applications get published after six months and – before the patent is granted - there is an open debate using a Wikipedia (or Digg-like) system that helps surface all the prior art and blow up stupid patents for obviousness and prior art. This would be a real debate – online and out in the open – that the patentee would be able to engage in.

While I’m sure all the patent lawyers in the world would groan at this, it’s certainly better for them than my proposal, which is to simply do away with software patents altogether. We certainly have the technology to implement this – say – in 24 hours. I wonder who will try to patent that?

Read this article in Brad's Blog.

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Article Tags: aisle, blow up, crap, cross license, digg, entrepreneur, friendship, funk, investor, open debate, patent applications, patent infringement, patent lawyers, patent system, prior art, proposal, six months, software patents, stupid patents, wikipedia



Related Forum Posts
What about a Wiki? - I've been thinking of putting a Wiki on my site - but I'm not sure how to go about it. I've done just a little bit of research today and it seems like you should only use it if you have millions of visitors a day... I'm a teeeeeeeeeeeeeeny tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiny website... But I sure would like to get a few people away from the Wikipedia...those people are annoying me!!!
Patent Pending - Patents aren't really my forte - but when you file for a patent, don't they research to find if your product infringes on other patents that are already registered? There are many similar products on the market in all categories. Why do you think that your product infringes on other patents? Have you talked to anyone at the patent office? Or, their website should offer a kinds of information about patents, infringements etc. Chris
Web Entrepreneurs - Great find Leo! I'm surprised that Bram Cohen (Cofounder, BitTorrent) and Mike Morhaime (President, Blizzard Entertainment) made it ahead of Jimmy Wales (Founder, Wikipedia) who has one of the most popular sites in the world and will soon be taking on Google in the search battles.
Re: Alert to Forum! - A message board I read on a regular basis was hacked about a week ago... Occasionally Wikipedia has been down for an extended length of time... always makes me wonder if its been hacked and a backup is being quickly loaded... I dont understsand the mindset of these hackers, why destroy somene else's hard work just for the fun of proving you can do it? But those are the same kind of people who spray grafitti and break street lights and so on...hopefully if they're ever caught they go to jail!
Laptop vs notebook - According to Wikipedia, and as I had suspected: A laptop computer, or simply laptop (also notebook computer or notebook), is a small mobile computer, which usually weighs 2-18 pounds (1-6 kilograms), depending on size, materials, and other factors. I have a desktop computer - a Dell Dimension 6600 (or some number like that!) and a laptop computer, a Sony VAIO. You can get a laptop, much like a desktop, with a variety of memory options, but I'd advise you to get one with the most memory and power that you can.


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