Josh Kopelman at First Round Capital has a good post on the value of patents after fighting for 8.5 years to get one of his granted. His Half.com (Ebay.com) patent received six rejections, half of them final, before it was allowed. I explain this to clients, particularly software startups, on a daily basis - good patents are often very hard to get, you will receive many rejections, and it will be very expensive to respond to those rejections with no guarantee that you will ever be granted a patent. Fire your patent attorney if he fails to explain that to you.

This might sound funny from someone who makes his living writing and prosecuting patents, but I have counseled many potential clients away from patents. Instead, I encouraged them to spend their initial funds on product development while keeping me abreast of their developments so we can file the right patent application, at the right time, that provides the most value to their business. There is no simple answer to the question of whether or not to patent, but the comparatively small amount of money spent on early consultations with a good patent attorney can set the stage for a valuable and well informed patent strategy. Some additional thoughts from Ask The VC (1, 2).

Links: Half.com Patent 7,373,317, First Round Capital, Redeye VC, Ask the VC.

This patent application from Apple seems to show a four layer arrangement comprising protective glass, an LCD display, a solar panel, and a circuit board. The solar panel receives light passing through the (semi-transparent) LCD display.

Links: MacRumors.com, Patent Application Solar cells on portable devices.

Postulated in 1971, a fourth passive circuit element called a memristor has been invented by a team from HP Labs. Circuit theory books, which will have to be rewritten, teach the existence and use of three passive circuit elements: the resistor, capacitor, and inductor. The memristor, short for memory resistor, changes its resistance based on the history of the flow of charge through the device. It essentially behaves like a non-linear resistor with memory. The device improves in performance the smaller it is made. The memristor can be used as both a digital and an analog device, depending on how current is passed through it. The applications are astounding, including computers that do not need to boot up, the elimination of disk drives, more energy efficient devices, and analog computers that can remember and associate patterns in the same way as the human brain.

Links: HP Press Release, HP Labs, Nature, EE Times, 1971 Paper in IEEE Transactions on Circuits Theory theorizing the existence of a memristor.

My client, On Deck Capital, officially launched today. Their patent pending financial products and technology improves upon standard credit models to offer performance-based loans to businesses that may not have access to traditional bank financing. On Deck Capital offers business loans up to $100,000 based on the performance of the business, rather than the personal credit history of the business owner.

Links: On Deck Capital, USA Today article.

IBM Technical Journals
IBM Research

I recently won U.S. patent no. 7,344,086 for the inventors of an innovative lottery ticket having features that prevent theft. The patent also claims methods for preventing lottery ticket theft. Major lottery ticket suppliers are considering licensing the patent.

Links: U.S. Patent No. US 7,344,086 (pdf, USPTO).

A partial list of who is acquiring, licensing, and enforcing patents:

Acacia Research Corporation
IPotential
Inflexion Point
Altitude Capital Partners
Ocean Tomo
Rembrandt IP Management
NW Patent Funding Corporation
Intellectual Ventures
Gathering2.0 (online community for monetizing IP assets)

Articles:
Patent Attorneys, Clients Banking on IP Brokerages (law.com)
Patent Pirates (forbes.com)

10 Most Bizarre Scientific Papers

(via Very Short List)

The second season of American Inventor premiered last night on ABC. By and large, the show was listless, kept afloat mostly by George Foreman’s smile and enthusiasm for almost everything. However, there were a few notables:

The Creepiest: “My Therapy Buddy” by Richard Kopelle is a deformed blue doll that whispers “everything is going to be alright” in a breathy Hannibal Lechter-like murmur. It was the second time Kopelle auditioned for the show and, with the exception of sourpuss British judge Peter Jones, Kopelle’s creepy vision was sent on to the next round. For you patent enthusiasts out there, it is now too late for Kopelle to receive a patent on his eerie doll since he publicly disclosed it more than one year ago on last year’s show.

The Simple: Ten year old Anthony Moebest presented a diaper with a package of wipes attached to the front. The judges sent Moebest home with tears in his eyes, but his invention, with a few tweaks, may have some potential – get rid of the package and in its place create a sealed exterior pocket on the diaper that houses a few tightly folded baby wipes. The sealed pocket ensures the baby wipes remain wet, and by tightly folding the wipes they contribute little to the bulk of the diaper. Most parents have experienced the messy frustration of not having baby wipes available at baby changing time.

The Best: Winsome firefighter and family man Greg Chavez delivered a heartfelt plea for his “Guardian Angel,” a fire protection system for Christmas trees. Tearfully, he showed video of a room being incinerated within fifteen seconds of a spark hitting the tree, and his experience witnessing a mother and father running from their home holding their lifeless child, killed by a tree fire. His invention includes a box holding water under pressure, and wrapped to look like a Christmas gift. The box is placed under the tree. A hose connected to the package runs undetectably up the tree to an angel perched at the top. Under the skirt of the angel is a plug that melts when heated, releasing the water to extinguish the fire. The Angel also includes an alarm to alert the homeowner of a fire. Chavez made it to the next round.