By Kevin E. Noonan --
The so-called Coalition for Patent Fairness has been one of the principal voices lobbying Congress for the now-becalmed Senate "patent reform bill (S. 1145) and the House version of the bill (H.R. 1938), passed last September. The Coalition is comprised of "high technology" companies like Apple, Cisco, Intel, Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, and others, and its message is decidedly patent-unfriendly. Patents harm innovation, subject productive companies to nuisance lawsuits by patent trolls, and the Republic would be much better off if there was a lot less patenting, according to the Coalition.
Unless we start talking about them, of course. The extent to which these companies eschew the childhood adage "what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander" is clearly set forth in a report, released today, from the Intellectual Property Owners. That report contains a numerical ranking of the companies that own the most patents granted in 2007. The extent of the rhetorical impact of the Coalition's lobbying can be seen in the somewhat pathetic disclaimer in the report that "IPO DOES NOT INTEND TO ENCOURAGE MORE PATENTING IN THE U.S." (emphasis in original). Not unnecessary patenting, or frivolous patenting, but all patenting. A remarkable statement for an organization comprised of intellectual property owners. The report lists the top 300 organizations that were granted U.S. patents in 2007, and a related Patent Docs post discusses the biotech and pharma companies on the list. Here, we will concentrate on those organizations having 1,000 issued patents in 2007.
It is unlikely the results presented in the report would be found in a world in which peoples' behavior matched their political positions. Since that is clearly not the world we live in, these top patent procurers should come as no surprise:
It is notable that several Coalition members have found their way on the list, and that they continue to have thousands of published applications, in view of their efforts to reduce the effectiveness of U.S. patents.
Also notable in this list is the predominance of companies headquartered outside the U.S. These companies are not a part of the Coalition, and apparently believe that the U.S. patent system is robust enough to justify their considerable investment in filing patent applications in this country. Even though they are no less subject to the vicissitudes of U.S. patent litigation or the other ills supposedly besetting high technology companies in the U.S. The contrast is ironic: the strengthening of the U.S. patent system is one of the factors that permitted nascent U.S. high technology companies to compete in the 1980's with Japanese and German companies that were at the zenith of their market penetration in the U.S. The success of the nurturing the patent system provided then can be seen on any street corner now: iPods, not Walkmans. In view of their rhetoric and behavior, it seems that there is a childhood adage the member companies of the Coalition subscribe to: eating your cake and having it too.
The REAL hypocrisy of M$ and other "coalition" members is their constant efforts to make the penalties for copyright
infrinement more and more draconian while whining and complaining about "patent taxes" and "unreasonably high costs of patents."
Microsoft would have no mercy on a small business owner that can't deal with the "Microsoft tax" and pirates their software. Microsoft would say that software piracy is theft and that one who can't afford the product should not expropriate it. I remember RV-advertisements from the BSA about business owners dragged out of work in handcuffs for pirating software.
Well what about patent piracy - why should we, the public, have "mercy" on tech behemoths (i.e. M$, Intel, Cisco, Oracle) with market caps on the order of $100 billion that can't take the time to do a clearance opinion (or even, gasp, multiple clearance opinions) before launching a product that will make them billions.
Mark Chandler complains about the number of lawsuits - well, his company is worth north of a $100 billion - what do you EXPECT !!!
And this isn't exactly bankrupting ANY of the CPF members.
IDEA - the patent community should organize and send hundreds of people outside of Redmond HQ dressed up as pirates explaining how M$ is lobbying to legalize patent piracy. How could Microsoft EVER EVER preach again about the "morality" of software piracy and the need for purchasing M$ licenses after supporting "patent reform" which will basically enourage all infringers to "roll the dice" and never to license ANYTHING.
Posted by: anonymousAgent | May 23, 2008 at 02:44 AM