The Berkeley Patent Survey of 2010 discovered the top reasons why start ups did not want to file for patents. The main reason was the cost of filing a patent. I think that this is a pretty ridiculous reason for start ups to not defend their own intellectual property. This past Tuesday, I listened to to the founders of Caviar talk about their start up and how it got off the ground. At one point, they only had 10 dollars in their corporate bank account. I can see why they might find it expensive if it costs a few thousand dollars to get it through however if they had done so and were the first to file they could have eliminated the other players in the on demand food market. The second reason was the price of enforcing the patent, which shows that they aren't in the market to be a troll but rather be an earth shattering firm that breaks into new market space. The third reason was that competitors could invent around the patent and essentially steal their idea by adding one small improvement that will then outsell them because they had to make their invention completely public. The last few are that the start ups do not want to disclose private information, believe theirs is not patentable, or that trade secrets covered them enough.
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Efrat Kasnik: Why Startups Don't File Patents
Hey hey hey!
The Berkeley Patent Survey of 2010 discovered the top reasons why start ups did not want to file for patents. The main reason was the cost of filing a patent. I think that this is a pretty ridiculous reason for start ups to not defend their own intellectual property. This past Tuesday, I listened to to the founders of Caviar talk about their start up and how it got off the ground. At one point, they only had 10 dollars in their corporate bank account. I can see why they might find it expensive if it costs a few thousand dollars to get it through however if they had done so and were the first to file they could have eliminated the other players in the on demand food market. The second reason was the price of enforcing the patent, which shows that they aren't in the market to be a troll but rather be an earth shattering firm that breaks into new market space. The third reason was that competitors could invent around the patent and essentially steal their idea by adding one small improvement that will then outsell them because they had to make their invention completely public. The last few are that the start ups do not want to disclose private information, believe theirs is not patentable, or that trade secrets covered them enough.
The Berkeley Patent Survey of 2010 discovered the top reasons why start ups did not want to file for patents. The main reason was the cost of filing a patent. I think that this is a pretty ridiculous reason for start ups to not defend their own intellectual property. This past Tuesday, I listened to to the founders of Caviar talk about their start up and how it got off the ground. At one point, they only had 10 dollars in their corporate bank account. I can see why they might find it expensive if it costs a few thousand dollars to get it through however if they had done so and were the first to file they could have eliminated the other players in the on demand food market. The second reason was the price of enforcing the patent, which shows that they aren't in the market to be a troll but rather be an earth shattering firm that breaks into new market space. The third reason was that competitors could invent around the patent and essentially steal their idea by adding one small improvement that will then outsell them because they had to make their invention completely public. The last few are that the start ups do not want to disclose private information, believe theirs is not patentable, or that trade secrets covered them enough.
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Very nice post! I enjoyed hearing about your argument about why startups should file for patent protection if applicable. Patent protection and IP is crucial to business success. I also liked how you tied in the Caviar talk to support your argument. Maybe for improvement you could add more about your own opinion on why startups don't patent. Overall I really liked your post!
ReplyDeleteNice job relating the Caviar talk to Kasznik's lecture. I actually think you have some good points, but I actually think that not having enough money to file for patents is actually a very real problem that many startups face. But taking into account the remainder of your posts, I would be curious if there were a way that you found that a startup can get over the hurdle of not having the money to file a patent on its own. Nice job though!
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