Re: hp patent strategy pays off

[PILCH Hartmut <phm@a2e.de>]

Under

  hp patent strategy pays off

  http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/feature_stories/patents02.htm

  HP inventors are encouraged and rewarded for disclosing inventions.

you find a very interesting article on the patent application process at
HP.  HP has greatly increased the number of patent application, hoping to
catch up with IBM.

The text says that a major problem consists in making "inventors" aware of
the fact that they have just "invented" something that can be patented.
One aware-making session among a group of developpers often leads to the
drafting of hundreds of patent applications, many of which become patents.

At the end a nano-technology example is cited.  I would assume that this
is not the kind of "invention" which results from the awareness-raising
session but just the kind that is needed to make the whole thing look a
little better.

From the stock investor's point of view, this whole game is quite nice,
and it is no wonder that not only the patent departments but even much of
the managament of companies in times of "share holder value" will advocate
almost any degree of patent inflation.

-- 
Hartmut Pilch                                          http://phm.ffii.org/
Protecting Innovation against Patent Inflation       http://swpat.ffii.org/
100,000 signatures against software patents      http://www.noepatents.org/