Brian Prentice

Recently, I reached out to both Intel’s Chief Patent Counsel, David Simon, and Google’s Head of Patents and Patent Strategy, Michelle Lee with two specific questions.

Does your organization currently license any of its patents to other organizations?
Can you categorically state, for the record, that all patents your organization current holds, or is planning on seeking, [...]

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Today, TechCrunch columunist MG Siegler was conjecturing on the potential of a patent lawsuit between Apple and Microsoft. This, he reasoned, could result from Microsoft using their multi-touch technology in a potential Windows Mobile 7 device which was reported today by Mary-Jo Foley.
Both Apple and Microsoft have done quite a lot to advance the state [...]

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I was browsing around Amazon.com recently and I ran across an interesting book titled “Democratizing Innovation” by Eric Von Hippel. As the book description highlights Von Hippel asserts:
“Users, aided by improvements in computer and communications technology, increasingly can develop their own new products and services. …product and service development is concentrated among “lead users,” who [...]

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Patent reform is critical to the future of our modern, globalized economy. It’s so important that we can’t waste precious time entertaining myopic shilling from self-proclaimed industry spokespeople bent on reallocating the costs of a broken system rather than fixing the system itself.
On that basis, the U.S. Congress – which is currently considering the Patent [...]

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Since patent reform is back on the political agenda and since I think the current proposed legislation is little more than paid-for lawmaking, I thought I’d be proactive in suggesting areas to reform that I believe would benefit everyone. I want to start with the patent review process.
I am by no means an expert on [...]

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I’m all for reforming the patent system. But that doesn’t mean I’m all for the Patent Reform Act of 2009.
While I think some of the proposals have merit the proposed legislation as a whole looks like it’s been custom designed to serve the needs of a specific set of businesses. And when some of those [...]

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Call it a sickness if you like but I actually enjoy reading amicus curiae! These are documents filed in a legal proceeding by an interested party who is not directly part of the case. Not only are they usually far more readable than court rulings they also offer a fascinating window into the thinking of [...]

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Patent reform is back on the agenda in Washington and, like most legislation debated on Capitol Hill, one needs to be wary of vested interest masquerading as principled argument.
Recently, Michelle Lee, Google’s Head of Patents and Patent Strategy, posted her thoughts on why patent reform is needed. It included these insights:
“Consider this: Of the 20 [...]

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I only just ran across this but last week David Braue reported that the Victorian government here in Australia denied Google access to data they were hoping to use to create a bushfire map mashup. Instead Google has relied on information provided by the Country Fire Authority on fires burning on private lands to create [...]

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My colleague Tom Austin, in his post Applications for a buck…or even less, explores the potential impact of cloud computing on traditional software business models. In considering Microsoft’s recent patent application for a metered pay-as-you-go computing experience Tom says:
“Microsoft’s patent application describes how it could sell software functions to users – they need not buy [...]

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