Question

: Do you think individuals or firms have the right to hold patents without producing any useful products of their own? Why or why not?. What are the differences between utility patents and design patents? Provide examples of each (at least one example must be from your “outside” research). Which type of patent would you prefer to apply for and obtain- why?

What are the effects of patent trolls on startups? How would you protect your startup against patent trolls?

Answer 1

I don’t think that individual or firm have the right to hold patents without producing any useful products of their own. In order to get qualified for patent protection, certain conditions need to be met and it includes that the invention must have some new characteristics which are not known to others and it should be useful for industrial or business purpose. The subject matter must be acceptable as patentable under law and the invention must be disclosed in clear and complete manner. All these conditions cannot be met in case of products that are not useful and produced by their own. Hence a firm does not have the right to hold patents without producing useful products of their own.

Utility patent is the most common type of patent protection and it protects the composition and functional aspects of an invention. But a design patent protects only the ornamental design or appearance of a product. Utility patent is very expensive but design patent is cheaper. Design patent provides faster patent protection but a utility patent is difficult to achieve and takes more time to receive protection. The utility patent provides a broad protection based on the user’s claim but a design patent only provides a narrow protection as it protects only the design.

Examples for utility patent can be the patent to protect a new invention of a machine and a new method invented by a company to ensure more productivity. Both the examples require protection to the structure and function of the invention. Examples for design patent include new furniture with unique design or jewelry with a new design. Both of them require protection for their appearance to make competitive advantage through design uniqueness.

I would like to apply for a utility patent as I need protection for my invention including structure and composition. I do not believe on appearance and in my opinion the quality of invention lies in the composition and functions of the invention.

Patent troll refers to the companies that make money on patent infringement law suits. They own patent from bankrupted companies and use them for charging licensing fee from other businesses that are found to infringe upon the patents they hold. The startups are more vulnerable to patent trolls as they mainly work on specific innovative ideas. The patent trolls demand royalty from the start ups and may affect the business due to the concerns over the company’s ability to settle the issue. Many startups settle the cases while many fight for justice. In order to save the start ups from patent trolls, the companies should work together and cancel the patents that may threaten the small companies and startups. Another method is to utilize the service of a patent tracking company to identify the problematic patents and acquire the same before patent trolls find and utilize them.