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Science Friday > Archives > 2000 > March > March 24, 2000:

Hour One: Technology Patents

Last year, the U.S. granted over a hundred and sixty-nine thousand patents, up about 6 thousand from the year before.  Those patents can be very important to a the bottom line of a business -- this past week Sun Microsystems and Kingston Technologies, a maker of computer chips, began to square off in a patent dispute over computer memory modules, a product that accounts for a very hefty portion of Kingston's $1.5 billion in annual sales.

Edison's Light Bulb Patent, Figure 1.

It's not the patents on devices, though, that has some members of the technology community up in arms -- it's the patents on processes or methods for doing business.

US Patent Number 5960411, "Method and System for Placing a Purchase Order Via a Communications Network",  is owned by internet retailer Amazon.com. It's often called the "one-click" ordering method. Priceline.com controls patent 5897620,  which covers its "name your own price for..." system of purchasing goods. Internet ad giant Doubleclick claims a patent on a "System and Method for Delivering Customized Advertisements Within Interactive Communications Systems," patent number 5933811. That patent covers the way that the company delivers ads about diapers, for instance, to people looking at web sites about infants.

Companies with these patents say they're just trying to protect their investments in research and development... while some companies on the outside of the party say that the patents are stifling innovation and progress.  It's not a new conversation. Similar discussions took place over patents relating to steamboats and the telegraph as well. But now, even dot-com patent holder Amazon.com has said that maybe the rules should be changed.

Morse

Fulton

It's not just in the .com world that technology patents are a hot topic. Last week biotech stocks took a hit on Wall Street after remarks by President Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair about free access to human genome data. However, according to the patent and trademark office, "genes and other genomic inventions remain patentable." That includes gene sequences, such as the sequence for the BRCA1 breast cancer gene -- and even entire organisms.

What's the story on technology patents? Call in with your questions and comments during this hour of Science Friday.

Listen to this program in RealAudio!

Guests:
Q. Todd Dickinson
Assistant Secretary of Commerce
Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks
Arlington, Virginia

Rochelle Dreyfuss
Professor of Law
Director, Engelberg Center on Innovation Law and Policy
New York University
New York, New York

Kevin Rivette
Chairman of the Board
Aurigin Systems, Inc
Co-Author
"Rembrandts in the Attic : Unlocking the Hidden Value of Patents" (Harvard Business School Press, 1999)
Cupertino, California

Books/Articles Discussed:

"Rembrandts in the Attic : Unlocking the Hidden Value of Patents" by Kevin G. Rivette and David Kline. Harvard Business School Press, 1999.

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This segment produced by:
Charles Bergquist
Web producer:
Charles Bergquist