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Apples and Galaxies

Patents as obstacles to innovation

 

The other day I had a discussion with a stranger. The only thing I knew about the stranger was that it was a lawyer. I wasn't even sure about its gender. During the discussion, I mentioned I was an engineer to emphasize a technical point I was making. Its reply: “What does an engineer do?”. It was evident by the context of the discussion, the question was meant to be a defamatory statement. This begs the question: what does a lawyer do? Are the legal services offered by corporate and patent lawyers worth the investment? 

All the talk about “Patent Wars” in the technology, business, and social medias, have had me thinking about the role of patents as purveyors of innovation. Instead of being protectors and motivators of innovation, patent law and the whole legal industry that has spawn from it, have made patents one of the biggest obstacles to inventors and the products they design and develop.

Even though The SLD Project is still in the design phase, I have counted at least a half dozen patentable inventions and improvements to existing designs that I have created as of this writing. Due to the modular design of the Photowebs System Camera and to the convoluted legalese involved in writing up a typical patent application, I figure there is 8 to 10 independent subsidiary patents for each of the major inventions and design improvements mentioned earlier. 

I estimate the cost of developing and building a Proof of Concept prototype of the Photowebs Modular System Camera at $50 000.00 USD. With about 50 patents, and a conservative estimate of $10 000.00 USD per patent application to cover legal and professional preparatory fees, I project the initial legal costs of bringing a propitiatory version of The Photowebs Modular System Camera at ten times the total cost of the Proof of Concept phase of this project.