[Patents] consultation questions

[lsjbjt@ozemail.com.au (Lachlan S. James)]

At 04:13 PM 7/05/01 -0400, you wrote:
> >However the study I point you to states that patents are of no use to
> >SMEs, because it offers them no gurantee.
>...
>Copyright?  Venture capitalists laugh at copyright as a form of protection
>for their investment (as do most intellectual property lawyers the
>VCs retain).

Spot on.  Copyright protects the expression of an idea, and not the idea=20
itself.  Further, it only protects against the *copying* of the=20
expression.  Therefore, it does NOT protect against someone else=20
*independently* coming up with exactly the same idea.  Copyright doesn't=20
even protect against someone coming up with exactly the same expression IF=
=20
it was created without copying.  Patents do!  Patents trump copyright=20
almost every time.

>... But
>as it grows, I am sure that the European VCs amd certainly American VCs
>investing in Europe will demand that the SMEs they invest in apply for
>and acquire patents, including software patents.

As a VC, I agree.  A startup has absolutely everything running against it:=
=20
low/no sales, low/no money in the bank, low/no market reputation, etc. ...=
=20
EXCEPT (hopefully!) innovative, energetic people capable of thinking=20
differently.  Therefore, they need to protect that innovative thinking,=20
that intellectual property, and thereby protect themselves against their=20
likely competition.  And a startup's competition typically comes in the=20
form of large, entrenched, well-known, industry-savvy, market-savvy,=20
politically-savvy, and often global market players.

Accordingly, you (as a startup) want every little bit of help/protection=20
you can get.  However, in my experience, whilst I see a good many purported=
=20
software patents, upon closer examination they aren't worth the paper=20
they're printed on (apologies for the over-used clich=E9) -- most 'software=
=20
patents' that I've seen should have been (or will be) rendered invalid for=
=20
want of novelty or inventiveness/non-obviousness.  Therefore, SME's=20
desperately need to improve their patents (as Greg stated; see below).

>Of course, improving patent quality helps SMEs greatly, so that when they
>get their patent, people will take them more seriously (which is why I
>have argued for many years to improve patent quality - it helps out
>small businesses very much).

Lachlan
(Sydney, Australia)