Patents and the Stock Market

Time and again I am reminded what an important asset patents can be to company's growth or continued existence. For example, I was reading an article in the Motely Fool today and their review of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, the owners of the "K-Cup" for coffee. The author quoted:

"My Foolish colleague Rick Munarriz says he'll be buying shares of Green Mountain by week's end because the Keurig machine remains popular, the patent expiration battle is overblown, and the stock is cheap. I think what he's doing amounts to balancing a steaming cup of coffee in his lap. The K-cup is popular because it's patent protected; that expires next year."

In many cases, the existence or nonexistence of a single patent can determine the fate of a company, especially in crowed market with many competitors waiting to get a piece of the pie that you created.



USPTO Issues Patent Number 8,000,000!

Bye-bye to the 7 million's, hello to the 8's.  The United States Patent and Trademark Office just recently granted registration to US Patent No. 8,000,000 Awarded to Second Sight Medical Products for a “Visual Prosthesis Apparatus” that Enhances Visual Perception for the Sight Impaired.   

Best Inventions of 2010

The end of the year is still a few months off, but Time magazine has decided to call it early… Last week, Time issued its annual “50 Best Inventions” article. It’s an interesting and fun look at (arguably) the cream of this year’s crop of ingenuity and creativity. Some of these inventions, like the iPad and the first synthetic cell, have raised eyebrows across the globe, while others, like a green-energy underwater kite and spray-on fabric, have gone under the radar. Whether you’re an inventor or not, the inventions are sure to make you rethink current ways of doing things, and realize just how much can be accomplished in one year. Hopefully this will inform and inspire the hard working inventors out there with an idea that’s time has come. I wonder what 2011 will hold…

Patent Application Video by Michael Cohen

Patent Law:
Patent Law Basics

Facebook Patent Unleashed!

Facebook obtains potentially powerful patent on Newsfeed technology

In 2006, Facebook filed a patent application on its much-imitated Newsfeed technology. Last week the patent was granted. Facebook has yet to announce any plans for legal action, but Web sites all over must be feeling more than a little apprehensive. After all, Twitter is essentially one big news feed. Google, Myspace and Flickr all use a similar technology.

The USPTO granted coverage to “the generation of activity elements associated with a user through a social network, tethering an information link associated with at least one these activities, limiting access to material in question to a predetermined list of users and assigning an order of publication for these different elements.”

Before Facebook sues anyone for patent infringement, it must consider the potential fallout from such a drastic move. In 2007, when Facebook tried out its first News Feed technology, called Beacon, users felt violated and many deleted their accounts. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO, issued a public apology and rescinded the service (although it slowly crept back in without any large-scale reactions). Facebook better use its new weapon of mass destruction tactfully. But it probably will use it. Stay tuned…