Patent Donations and the Problem of Orphan Technologies with David Martin, CEO, M-CAM and Peter Bloch, COO, Light Years IP
What does the process of patent donations and orphan technologies say about our national innovation system? Are patent donations an effective way of spurring university research? Are there other ways to foster more development of these technologies? Has patenting gone too far? Is over-patenting getting in the way of new product development?
Overview
We live in an economy driven by innovation. Companies everywhere aggressively seek to foster and utilize their intellectual property. Patents is one way they use to turn ideas in to market opportunities. However, some estimates claim that anywhere from 25 to 97 percent of patents have no economic value. 70 to 80 percent of U.S. corporate patents are classified as "orphans" (patents that will never be developed by the company into marketable products). One way of exploiting these orphan technologies is by donating them to non-profit groups (such as universities) who can nurture and develop them. But the concerns over the potential for abuse in this process of patent donation has become so great that both the IRS and the Congress are taking steps to reign-in such donations.
Dr. David Martin has been at the forefront of IP management system development for over a decade, developing the world's first international intellectual property auditing systems. Formerly an Assistant Professor at the University of Virginia's School of Medicine, he has worked with numerous governments on technology transfer policies and intellectual property protection.
Peter Bloch is a business strategist and multimedia developer with over twenty-five years of experience in all aspects of startup, management and strategic planning for media companies. For the last fifteen years, he has specialized in working with media technology companies as a strategic planning consultant. As a consultant to the International Intellectual Property Institute he co-authored a recently published research paper, "IP Donations: A Policy Review."
6th floor Boardroom
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