Lean Patents

2013

The US Patent And Trademark Office must evolve
The US Patent And Trademark Office could once more take the lead in unleashing unseen creative potential

Of course, as with most software patents, this one fails to explain how that ‘apparatus’ would actually work, apparently letting its owner make the ridiculous claim that essentially any apparatus that disseminates episodes infringes its patent.

Statement by the Electronic Frontier Foundation after taking on Personal Audio over the company’s move to sue podcasters.

It’s high time that the the process of filing patents gets simplified to reflect the triviality of what qualifies as patentable. By making filing of patents informal and easy, we create a more inclusive and democratic institution and may shift power from large corporations to individuals and small companies who may lack the means of production and even the skill to realize their ideas and establish a business model around them. Skill is a modernist concept that seems outdated in times of Real Post Modernism.

User experience is what is real and we have to encourage creative minds to imagine new experiences instead of letting themselves be slowed down by tinkering with the underlying technology. We are about to enter times of recursive programming and engineering. The unique selling point of human beings in the emerging hybrid society is the quick and fuzzy idea rather than figuring out the details.

Recently I filed my first patent on Twitter:

#ip #patentfile: Granting patents to ideas posted on social sites (e.g. Twitter) using an identifier (e.g. #patentfile)

I encourage creative minds who lack the time and the means to realize and implement their ideas and who don’t find themselves in the position to establish a business model and monetize their ideas to follow my example. While filing patents via Twitter is not (yet) legally recognized, posting ideas and claiming patents may a) create the momentum for changing patent law and b) strikes me as an antifragile business strategy:

1. By filing your patent on Twitter, you get exposure to the positive black swan event that patent law gets changed in the near future. You may get to monetize your 140 character idea.

2. In case patent law does not get changed, you get exposure to the positive black swan that someone with the skills and the patience to implement your idea will realize it and you will get to be a user who benefits from another small improvement of the world.

Filed Patents

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