Patent
GE Is Freeing Up ‘Thousands’ of Patents to Fuel Your Imagination
Source: http://gizmodo.com/5994291/ge-is-freeing-up-1000-patents-to-your-imagination
Today, at an event in New York, GE announced that it will open up “thousands” of patents from its library of some 20,000 to inventors using Quirky’s crowdsourced product development platform. That means that if you’re bright enough, you can use a GE patent to invent something. GE will still collect royalties on your brain power, but they promise not to sue you.
Quirky, for those of you unfamiliar, is an online social platform that people use to develop relatively simple products with the help of others, and bring them all the way to retail. In general, the products that make it all the way through the platform’s gauntlet of development stages are simple little gadgets that make your life better but don’t exist. GE is, well, you know what GE is.
Starting next month, GE will being rolling out patents and make them available through a searchable online database. Initially, the “Inspiration Platform” will launch with a few hundred patents and eventually ramp up to several thousand. Quirky says it plans to have some products available in time for Black Friday.
The two companies announced some crazy sounding tech like “optical systems,” “barrier coatings,” and “Telematics and asset tracking technology” that will be available, but the whole list of usable knowledge isn’t yet available. Even if all the patents aren’t that exciting, opening up knowledge is always a good thing. Now, it’s up to you to do something with it. [Quirky]
The Six Biggest Patent Deals Of 2012
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/most-lucrative-patent-sales-of-2012-2012-11
Tech patents have become a huge commodity in America.
Why buy a patent? Well, you’ll be able to sue anybody who infringes it.
You could also license it, and use the technology it covers all you want.
With these lucrative possibilities in mind, tech companies typically buy patents in big bundles.
And these patent bundles can go for jaw-drawing amounts.
Patent brokerage firm IPOfferings has now provided a glimpse into exactly how much a company will buy for the right to somebody else’s invention.
7. Adaptix’s $100 million sale to Acacia Research
In January, Adaptix sold Acacia Research 230 patents covering 4G technology, according to IPOfferings.
The deal was Acacia’s first major move to buy its own patent rights, the Wall Street Journal reported at the time. Previously, Acacia partnered with universities and other organizations to help them enforce patents.
Acacia has been criticized as a “patent troll,” or a company that makes most of its money from licensing patents or filing patent lawsuits.
However, Acacia CEO Paul Ryan previously told BI that people who use that term are just “name calling.”
6. Fujifilm Corp.’s $105 million sale to Universal Display Corp.
Fujifilm sold 1,200 patents covering OLED (organic light-emitting diode) technology to Universal Display Corp. in July, according to IPOfferings.
The deal doubled the patent portfolio of Universal Display, a lighting and display company based in New Jersey, according to Fujifilm.
OLEDs are used to make increasingly popular high-contrast, low-energy screens, Science Daily has reported.
5. Real Network’s $120 million sale to Intel
In January, Real Network sold 190 patents to Intel covering technology for media players, according to IPOfferings.
The deal also included 170 patent applications (patents that haven’t been approved) and some video streaming software, the Wall Street Journal reported at the time.
The patent acquisition built Intel’s portfolio for technology that allows streaming on smartphones and laptops, according to the Journal.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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Verizon Wants to Watch and Listen to Your Life While You Watch TV
Source: http://gizmodo.com/5965843/verizon-wants-to-watch-and-listen-to-your-life-while-you-watch-tv
Last week, Verizon filed a patent for a set-top box that detects what you’re doing while you watch TV, and serves you advertising accordingly. Ew, weird, companies watching what I do while I consume content. Big brother! Chill, son.
“Methods and Systems for Presenting an Advertisement Associated with an Ambient Action of a User” describes a system by which a device captures information about what you’re doing while enjoying TV, movies, etc, and uses it to target advertising to you. Using a “a depth sensor, an image sensor, an audio sensor, and a thermal sensor” the system would be able to detect whether you’re fiddling with your phone, interacting with another person, as well as performing any of:
eating, exercising, laughing, reading, sleeping, talking, singing, humming, cleaning, and playing a musical instrument.
Now, this might seem kind of creepy, but there’s a few important points to remember before you freak out and sound the privacy alarm. First, companies like Facebook, Google, etc, are capturing all sorts of information about what you’re consuming online and using it to serve you targeted advertising. Second, any system like this would almost certainly require you to opt-in before peeking into your life. Besides, how many of these patents actually turn into products, anyway? [USPTO via Ars Technica via Betabeat]
Image by Tischenko Irina/Shutterstock
6 Brilliant TED Talks That Every Business Leader Should Watch
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/6-ted-talks-entrepreneurs-must-watch-2012-11
TED.com is just about the best place to hang out online if you have a few minutes to kill.
That’s because it offers free recorded lectures given by brilliant people doing amazing things in areas including technology, entertainment, design, business, science, and global issues.
And what’s cool about it is the talks are tagged so if you’re in the mood for something inspiring or funny, for example, you can get just the kinds of videos to do the trick.
Here are a handful of insightful TED talks posted this year that every entrepreneur should check out.
Shawn Achor explains how to change your perception of reality to produce better work.
Psychologist Shawn Achor doubles as a comedian in this talk, during which he says the lens through which your brain views the world shapes your reality.
“And if we can change the lens not only can we change your happiness, but we can change every single educational and business outcome at the same time,” he says in this highly entertaining video.
Drew Curtis discusses how he defended his business from a patent troll.
When Fark.com was sued by a patent troll “…for the creation and distribution of news releases via email” alongside companies such as Yahoo, MSN, Reddit, AOL, and TechCrunch, the eight-person company stood its ground.
“I had hoped to team up with some of these larger companies and defend against this lawsuit but one by one they settled out of the case even though not one of these companies infringed on the patent,” says Drew Curtis, founder of Fark.
The reason? The average troll defense costs $2 million and takes 18 months if you win. He proves that little guys don’t have to let themselves get bullied with ! frivolou s lawsuits.
Julia Burstein gives 4 lessons in creativity.
In this inspiring talk, radio host and book author Julie Burstein gives voice to several interviews with remarkably talented people who found that creativity grows when you pay attention to the world around you, learn from challenges, push against the limits of what you can do as well as the hardest thing of all—embrace loss.”
“We have to stand in that space between what we see in the world and what we hope for, looking squarely at rejection, at heartbreak, at war, at death,” she says.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
Sony patent wants to make advertising more interactive
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/24/sony-patent-wants-to-make-advertising-more-interactive/
We all know adverts are a necessary evil, which is why different companies are trying to make them more personalized, more engaging or just plain get rid of them. In a recently granted patent, Sony outlines its ideas for next-gen advertising on network-connected devices — essentially to make it more interactive. Many of the instructional diagrams involve PS3 accessories in the home setting, but the focus isn’t just on adverts as mini-games, which itself is nothing new. Other suggestions for keeping your interest include in-ad purchasing, casting votes or selecting the genre of commercials. To speed up, or get ads off your screen, Sony would have you performing small tasks or — more sinisterly — shouting brand names when prompted. Whether such immersive advertising will ever be employed is anyone’s guess, but we’re sure you’re smart enough to know they’re just tricks. So who’s up for a McDonald’s then?
Filed under: Internet
Sony patent wants to make advertising more interactive originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Aug 2012 13:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Apple v. Samsung jury finds Apple’s patents valid, awards it nearly $1.05 billion in damages
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/24/apple-v-samsung-decision/
The federal court jury in the patent infringement lawsuit between Apple and Samsung has presented its verdict after deliberating for just 21 hours and 37 minutes following the three week trial. This particular case started with Apple’s lawsuit last April and now the jury’s decision is that Samsung did infringe on Apple’s ’381 bounceback patent with all 21 of its products in question. For the ’915 patent on pinch-and-zoom, the jury ruled all but three of the devices listed infringed, and more damningly, found that Samsung executives either knew or should have known their products infringed on the listed patents. The jury has also found against Samsung when it comes to Apple’s contours on the back of the iPhone and its home screen GUI. The Galaxy Tab, was found not to have infringed upon Apple’s iPad design patents. The bad news for Samsung continued however, as the jury decided that not only did it willfully infringe on five of the seven Apple patents, but also upheld their validity when it came to utility, design and trade dress.
The amount of the damages against Samsung is in: $1,051,855,000.00 (see below). That’s less than half of the $2.5 billion it was seeking, but still more than enough to put an exclamation point on this victory for the team from Cupertino. The final number is $1,049,343,540, after the judge found an issue with how the jury applied damages for the Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G LTE and Intercept. The jury also ruled that Apple did not infringe upon Samsung’s patents with the iPhone 3G and 3GS, and has awarded it zero dollars in damage. We’ll have more information for you as it become available.
Update: Both companies have released statements on the matter, with Apple stating via the New York Times the ruling sends a loud and clear message that “stealing isn’t right.” Samsung has its own viewpoint calling this “a loss for the American consumer” that will lead to fewer choices, less innovation and high prices. You can see both in their entirety after the break.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Apple v. Samsung jury finds Apple’s patents valid, awards it nearly $1.05 billion in damages originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Aug 2012 18:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Why People Bought Android Phones Instead Of iPhones, According To An Apple Survey (AAPL, GOOG)
An internal Apple study from 2011 reveals that the number one reason people ended up buying an Android phone after considering an iPhone was that they didn’t want to leave their wireless carrier.
The chart below is based on data that came out during the Samsung-Apple patent trial (via CNET). It suggests that if Apple had been on all carriers in the U.S. Android would not have become as popular as it did.
Alas, Apple was not on Verizon, Sprint, or T-Mobile. This gave Google an opportunity to win over new customers. Those customers are likely coming off their first Android contracts now. It will be interesting to see if they stick with Google, or if they decide to jump to the iPhone.
Digital Consigliere
Dr. Augustine Fou is Digital Consigliere to marketing executives, advising them on digital strategy and Unified Marketing(tm). Dr Fou has over 17 years of in-the-trenches, hands-on experience, which enables him to provide objective, in-depth assessments of their current marketing programs and recommendations for improving business impact and ROI using digital insights.
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