The Claim Game

Up until now, I've used this blog for a class I was taking last semester: IEOR 190G - Mobile Wireless Networking & Patent Engineering Blog. Now that class is over and I've graduated I've decided to continue this blog and keep on writing about patents, innovation, and biotech.

That said, I think it's appropriate to write about a couple of personal updates, in keeping with my about tag.

I graduated from UC Berkeley about a month ago with bachelor's degrees in Molecular and Cell Biology - Genetics and Legal Studies. Before graduating, I submitted my honors thesis (Patenting Hematopoietic Stem Cells: Implications for Follow-On Innovation) to my faculty advisor and presented my project at Berkeley's Legal Studies Conference.


I recently retired my pipette at the academic lab I was working at, and I'm currently on the job hunt for a research position in a cool, disruptive biotech company. 

I'm spending my evenings studying for the LSAT which I'll be taking late September.

I'm contemplating starting a long term research project on adjudicatory perceptions of scientific data. 

I've been meeting new people, discovering new trails, and adding to my portfolio. I'm excited for some upcoming trips to Portland, London and Seattle. 

This new chapter of my life is exciting, but uncertain. So I'm a bit nervous to see what it brings, but I look forward to learning new things, expanding my horizons, and making my own impact on the world. 

IEOR 190G has been very supplemental to my undergraduate career and professional interests. I'm a Molecular Biology and Legal Studies double major who was introduced to patents in the context of economic access to medicines. Throughout this semester I've actually been working on a senior thesis on "Patenting Hematopoietic Stem Cell Technologies: Implications for Follow-On Innovation". This project looked at patents from an economic perspective, asking the question "Do patents really impact innovation? Do they hinder innovation? Do they stimulate it?"

Throughout this course we have used social media as the basis of our assignments and learning. Rather than pure lecture, we learned from each other through blog posts, comments, youtube videos, and tweets.

This is the first student-to-student interaction has been central to a course for me, let alone social media. I think that this is a very interesting new model of learning. By learning from each other, as well as the professor, we get several different perspectives since the class is made up of students from diverse backgrounds.

Furthermore, not only did we learn from each other, but we taught each other, and such teaching really reinforced topics.

I think that the diversity of perspectives, in addition to actively engaging in a topic through blog posts and youtube videos, really can make otherwise dry topics interesting (not that patents are dry)!

I see great potential for student-to-student interaction based courses in the future.

Microsoft sued Motorola for violating a licensing agreement (reasonable and non-discriminatory licensing agreement). Microsoft was a third party beneficiary of this agreement. 

While this litigation was going on in the U.S., Motorola claimed that Microsoft infringed upon its patents in Germany. A German district court ended up granting Motorola an injunction against Microsoft's production of products that infringed upon Motorola's patent. 

Microsoft ended up fighting back in another suit to turn over this injunction. The district court ruled in favor of Microsoft, granting Microsoft an injunction against Motorola's foreign patent infringement injunction granted in Germany. 

WARF sued Apple for patent infringement on microprocessor technology patent for $400M.

The patent protected claims regarding processor chip design that improved microprocessor performance. WARF claimed that this patent was infringed upon by Apple's A7 processors for its iphone 5s and ipad.

A jury in Madison found that Apple did indeed infringe upon the patent, determining that it must pay WARF.

WARF argued that it is entitled to $2.74 for each device. WARF claims to be innovative and holds many patents, receiving $128 million from patent lawsuits from 2012-2014 alone. Since WARF does not produce products, can WARF be considered as a patent troll?


Sources:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-14/university-seeking-400-million-from-apple-in-patent-dispute

US5031161, or "Life Expectancy Timepiece" is a patent on a backwards counting watch that predicts how much time you have left... alive. So I guess with this you don't have to live every day like it's your last because you know exactly how many you have left and how to ration out your time.

When we think of patents, we think of inventions like the latest mobile phone feature or a groundbreaking diagnostic test for HIV. By the nature of intellectual property law, patents intend to incentivize innovation that would otherwise be unattractive to pursue. Yet not-so-innovative products are awarded patents. One silly patent that I found is US6612449B1, or a "Banana Protective Device".