

Nathan Myhrvold, Intellectual Ventures and Patent trolls - bpolania

On this month (October)Wired, Edward Clark from Encino, California sent a letter about how Nathan Myhrvold is "squashing new ideas and innovation", I looked deep into this and Mr. Clark doesn't seem to  be alone on this subject.<p>I found a very interesting NPR article on the subject.<p>http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/07/26/138576167/when-patents-attack
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pewpewlasergun
The tragic thing about this is it doesn't have to be that way. People would
look at Intellectual Ventures in a really positive light if it was actually
doing lots of research, and sold access to its patents and charge for
consulting. This would be a really interesting way to do things, and would
actually be outsourcing research and providing a convenient way for companies
in different areas to share patents. However, they are instead buying up
patents and using shell companies to sue companies that have been operating
for years and show no evidence of willful infringement. Another strike against
them is their patents, they seem to love method patents which are way too
broad and taking advantage of an overly generous patent office.

The tragedy of the patent dilemma is that it could be solved by just reforming
the patent office, and making some slight adjustments.

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jcscott81
Heard this story when it originally aired. Myhrvold makes a good point - what
he does should, IN THEORY, provide a way for inventors to monetize their IP
should they lack other means. But that's NOT what IV does. They don't bring
anything to market, and they have no intention of using any of the patents
they own outside of the legal system. They simply shake other down others,
sometimes small-time inventors, down for money.

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bpolania
I had heard about mr Myhrvold exploits but I had no idea they were so
enthusiastic about hating him or that his position was such a threat to the
innovators community. I thought his more dangeorus idea was a $600 cookbook.

