I remember in class, our guest speaker states that 250,000 patents that impact smartphones. That's one in six
active patents today and that’s for an industry that is certainly less than
1% of US GDP. As a comparison, the pharmaceutical industry, often put forth as
an area where patents make sense, has accounted for a little over 6% of US
patents over the past 15 years. When I was doing research I found out that " in the pharmaceutical industry, there are approximately 46.8
patents per every 1,000 jobs, whereas in the computer and technology equipment
sector, there are 277.5 patents per 1,000 jobs."
It definitely appears that there's something of a
"bubble" going on around smartphone patents -- which is what happens
when you have a hot emerging area, combined with ridiculously broad patents. It
also makes for an astounding problem for anyone new who wants to enter the
space, especially if you don't have a massive war chest to license or fight in
court.
The smartphone in your hand is a
marvel of innovation, packing sophisticated computing and communications
technologies into a sleek digital device.
It is also a litigation magnet.
In the last few years, the
companies in the smartphone industry have spent billions of dollars buying
patents and hundreds of millions suing one another. Its insane!
To the winners of the patent wars,
the rewards will be rich. Mobile computing, or smartphones and tablets, is the
most lucrative and fastest-growing market in business.
It is crazy hour many IPs are going into mobile tech
ReplyDeleteHi Vruti, I was similarly surprised with the number of patents that went into the smartphone. I like the comparisons that you gave. It definitely adds edges to your point.
ReplyDeleteHi Vruti,
ReplyDeleteNice job picking a cool topic from the lecture to write your post about. It is a pretty crazy statistic especially when it becomes a "litigation magnet" as you call it, so to speak. Keep up the good work