Steve van Dulken's Patent blog

Do patents stifle innovation ? The result

I recently posted about a debate at the Science Museum on the question of whether or not patents stifled innovation in low energy inventions.

It happened while I was away -- I'd have very much liked to have been there -- but it turns out that after an interesting evening the pro-patent advocates won the vote by 90 to 14. The arguments are summarised in a press release by CIPA, the trade association for UK patent attorneys. The basic point was that small companies need the protection from patents to finance and manufacture their innovations.

I had been under the impression that attendance was open to all who pre-registered, but the press release refers to "business leaders".

Do patents stifle innovation ?

It is often claimed that patents stifle innovation by hampering research and development. 

Those able to get to London have a chance to attend a debate at the Science Museum on the evening of Thursday 23 July. The title is "Patents are stifling the innovation needed to ensure abundant, low-carbon energy supplies".

Drinks and a buffet reception are included and it is free. I will be away, unfortunately -- it would be interesting to see the fireworks.

Boliven Patents Top 25

A (free) statistical report measuring the top 25 in a number of fields at the US Patent & Trademark Office in 2008 has been published as Boliven Patents Top 25.

It is laudable that the company has put the report on the Web for free. My only criticisms is that giving the nationality of the companies or inventors would have added interest, as would analysing by country itself.

Of the top 25 applicants granted utility patents, IBM was number 1 with an industrious 4,088 but only 9 were American. Ten were from Japan and a further two were Korean. None were British (just three were from Europe).

I found a table showing the top 25 examiners fascinating. Ian Simmons had 1,502. If Ian works 300 days a year, that's 5 a day -- truly a Stakhanovite perfomance. Among the inventors, Australian Kia Silverbrook had 577 patents (mostly for inkjet printers and the like).

The tables should be used with care, as "patents" are interpreted to include design patents and plant patents as well as utility patents.

Starbucks and its new instant coffee

Starbucks is launching instant coffee at its outlets, which may seem to go against the idea of supplying a supposedly superior coffee.

An article in The Times tells me that it was launched a few weeks ago in New York, and from 25 March in London.

The world patent application for the method was published in December 2008 as Beverage and method of making same. The CEO explained that it was the fruit of 20 years of research. The application's abstract says "During final processing, the two or more discrete bases are combined together with water and packaged for sale as a ready-to-drink beverage". One of the "bases" is the coffee, the other milk or soya.

Time will tell if it is a success. People either love the products of the chain or hate it, rather like Marmite®.

 

Consultation on the Patent Research Exception

The UK Intellectual Property Office has launched a consultation on the patent research exception. The "exception" is the right to build a patented invention for experimental reasons. For example, in order to consider possible modifications. This does not infringe the patent.

Section 60 (5) of the Patent Act 1977 is the relevant legislation. See pages 5 and 6 of this portion of the Act, where wording in italics is the legislation, with normal type being used for explanatory comment, in the Manual of Patent Practice.

Comments on the impact of this exception are invited by the 7 November.

The iPhone® 3G patent application

Today is launch day for Apple's iPhone® 3G.

I am always interested in tracking down published patent applications for new products, and this was no exception. The problem is that, besides Apple being so prolific, electronic inventions are often covered by a mixture of new and old patent applications and by copyright. It's usually hard/ impossible without expert knowledge to track the right ones down.

A search on Google led me to a story about the USPTO having just published the application for what the writer believed was the technology in the new iPhone®. It includes a link to the American patent application, and depicts the main illustration, also shown here.

Yes, the American application was published on the 29 May. What the writer didn't realise was that the same invention was published in the PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) system to request protection across much of the world on the 13 March, 10 weeks earlier.

The Touch Screen Device, Method, and Graphical User Interface for Determining Commands by Applying Heuristics is by numerous inventors, including Steve Jobs. It has no fewer than 501 pages, including some 300 pages of drawings. Forecasts are that it will be a huge success, as the iPhone now offers the iPod, high-speed web connections and easy-to-use GPS.

War games from the Boer War

Last August I posted about war games from World War II. This time it's about toys and games from the (Second) Boer War (1899-1902).

They are of considerable interest for social historians. In date order, they are:

A new or improved puzzle or game, by Frederick Dunkin of Oxford, surgeon dentist.  We know that that was his occupation as until about 1921 British patents usually gave the occupation of private inventors. The playing pieces had to be moved about so that the "Imperial and colonial forces" occupied Pretoria and the Transvaal and Orange Free State forces were in the prison.

Next is An improved toy or puzzle by Bertie Scott of Bruges, Belgium, gentleman.  The game -- if you can call it that -- involves locking or unlocking the figure, which in the drawing is quite clearly President Kruger of the Transvaal Republic.

Next is A new or improved game for two players by John Reid of Glasgow, architect. Unfortunately it lacks any drawings. The board game was called Patriotism, and was considered to be a tactical game, where you simply had to get your three "men" in a straight line to win the game. One side was the British, the other the Boers, and nine South African towns were marked on the board. Reid called it a "souvenir of South Africa, year 1900 A.D."

The last one I traced was GB19662/1900, which is missing from the database. It is a board with squares making up a grid with a South African town at each corner where small armies fight according to rules. The inventor was from Dunedin, New Zealand.

As so often happens these all date from 1900, before war weariness set in. I find these inventions fascinating as examples of the mind set of the time.

The Russell Hobbs electric kettle

The obituary of Peter Hobbs has appeared in the Daily Telegraph. He was the marketing man in the famous Russell Hobbs company.

It was William Russell who came up with the first electric kettle which automatically switched off, back in 1952. Earlier kettles simply boiled dry if not attended to. The patent was titled Improvements in or relating to electrically-heated containers for beverages. Here is its main drawing.

The story explains about the various models, numbered from K1 onwards. They were attractive to look at, were made out of copper and chrome, and had good lines. These "stand alone" kettles were eventually replaced by the cordless "jug kettle", which sits on a base connected to the mains, and which was originally meant to assist the elderly.

This dates back to 1986, by D.H. Haden Limited, and is also British. Its title is An appliance supported in electrical contact with a support. Here is its main drawing.

The ball on the new Dyson vacuum cleaner

Recently British television advertisements have shown James Dyson demonstrating how wheels on vacuum cleaners mean that they are hard to steer round corners.

He then shows how his company now use a large ball behind the broad cleaner heads so that upright vacuum cleaners can be steered with ease round corners.

Their Surface treating appliance, published as long ago as February 2004, is mainly for this idea. It is interesting in that the word "ball" is nowhere mentioned. Instead we have "arranged to roll with respect to the main body for allowing the appliance to be rolled along a surface" and the like. Here is the main drawing.

 

The idea of a huge ball has been around in Dyson's thoughts before. Back in 1975 he applied for a patent for a Ground engaging member for movable structures, which was basically a wheelbarrow with a huge plastic ball at the end rather than the usual narrow, single wheel. The idea was not just that it would be easy to steer, but that it would avoid a heavy wheelbarrow cutting into the soil and making it hard to shift. It was called the Ballbarrow.

The story I heard was that it didn't sell well for several reasons. Most people don't have room for a wheelbarrow; most people only occasionally need one; and most people work their wheelbarrows until they fall apart from rust. And, above all, people tended to borrow the thing from those who had bought it.

Dyson made no such mistake with his dual cyclone vacuum cleaner. Every household needs something to clean the place, and Britain alone has over 20 million households.

New British Library online course on intellectual property

The British Library has just launched a new (and free) online learning course about intellectual property on the Web.

There is a press release about it. Aimed at a British audience, but available for anyone, the first course is on the basics of intellectual property (IP). It puts IP in the context of business people trying to protect their innovative ideas. Designed with the complete novice in mind, it has a gentle step-by-step approach.

Later a course on patent, trade mark and design searching, and a course on marketing the invention, will be added.

The web site requires registration for those who would like to try it.