WHAT I LEARNED IN THE CLASS | WEEK #13

Hey Patent Pals!

For my final blog post, I am going to be talking about what I learned in the class. It is very sad that the course is coming to an end, and I think that I speak on behalf of everyone when I say that we are very appreciative of the time that Professor Lavian put into the course. I cannot emphasize how fun and informative this class was, and I hope that students in the future choose to take the course as well!

With regards to what I learned in the course, there is so much to talk about. From how to file a patent to how to analyze a patent, this course provided a very comprehensive overview of patents, especially with regards to wireless and mobile devices. As someone who worked at Apple last summer, technology, especially with regards to intellectual property, has always interested me very much, and I am proud to say that I am much more knowledgable about them after having been a student in this course. That being said, because there is so much to discuss, I am going to narrow what I learned to three main points:

1. What Makes an Invalid Patent
2. The Rise of Patent Trolls
3. The Role of Intellectual Property as a Business Asset

What Makes an Invalid Patent?

In class, we learned that in order for a patent to be approved, it must satisfy three main criteria - it must be useful, novel, and non-obvious!

1. Usefulness - In order for a patent to be useful, it must meet a need or solve a problem. In addition, the patent must fill a current or anticipated need. As an example, a useful patent can be "reduced to practice", operated, or enabled (i.e. it can be built and function). Furthermore, a useful patent can be an improvement on an already existing patent
   
   
2. Novelty - Anticipation occurs when a single piece of prior art practices all of the elements of a single claim. That being said, a novel patent has not been published or implemented before. Ways around justifying a seemingly un-novel patent include answering one of the following questions. If the structure is known, are the elements used in a new way? If the function is known, is there a new problem to solve?
   
   
3. Non-obviousness - Perhaps most importantly, a patent can be rejected if it is obvious, meaning that a Person having Ordinary Skill in the Art (POSITA) defines it to be that way. The patent must not be trivial or insignificant - it must serve a specific function. The example we discussed in class was the bottle cap color example.

The Rise of Patent Trolls

In class, I also learned about the rise of patent trolls. A patent troll can be loosely defined as any entity that earns or plans to earn the majority of its revenue from the licensing or enforcement of its patents. Other factors to consider include the fact that a patent troll is an entity that holds a patent for a product or process but has no intentions of developing or manufacturing it. Furthermore, a patent troll could be a party that purchases a patent from one firm, and then sues another firm for infringing on the patent. At the end of the day, the definition of “patent troll” is highly amorphous, and the types of business models, patent enforcement, and licensing practices that are considered to constitute “trolling,” as opposed to more socially acceptable forms of monetizing patent rights, vary widely in public opinion.

The Role of Intellectual Property as a Strategic Business Asset

Finally, we also learned about how intellectual property could be used as a strategic business asset. Today, intangible assets comprise 80% of the S&P 500's market value, and intellectual property is playing an increasingly larger role within a variety of industries. The mobile patent wars serve as an example of the ever-increasing size of the IP marketplace. Currently, 250,000 patents are going into smartphones, and that number continues to grow. Over the course of the last few years, server multi-billion dollar deals have taken place for IP acquisition (i.e. Google purchases Motorola Mobility. In order for IP to be a strategic business asset, companies must seek to grow them. Strategies for growth include internal use, licensing, selling, joint venture/spin-off, and/or enforcement.

The Future!

I am extremely grateful for everything that I have learned in this course. Like I mentioned, there was too much to cover, so I only discussed my top 3 biggest takeaways from the course. I speak on behalf of everyone in the class when I say that we are excited for how we can apply this knowledge in the future! I hope to one day start my own technology start-up, and knowing how to file a patent (and what makes a patent invalid) is extremely helpful. Furthermore, I now know what to do in order to fight back against a patent troll if I ever have to deal with one. Finally, I understand that a patent can be a strategic business asset, and the key is to find an effective way to monetize it in order to truly be successful.

COLLABORATIVE SOCIAL MEDIA LEARNING | WEEK #13

Hi guys!

As the class approaches its end, I just want to take the time to thank Professor Lavian and everyone in the class for a great semester. This has truly been the most fun class I have ever taken at UC Berkeley, and I hope that future students have just as rewarding of an experience.

Part of the reason that this class was so rewarding was the collaborative social media aspect of the course. Professor Lavian did a great job of incorporating social media throughout the assignments, which ultimately had three major tangible results in terms maximizing our learning experience:

1. Creative Discretion - by allowing us to post many of our assignments on Twitter, Blogger and YouTube, we are given creative discretion to make our assignments as entertaining as possible. This allows us as students to be incredibly invested into our assignments and to take pride in what we post for the public to see. We feel obligated to put forth the best quality work, and we are able to do so through a unique and creative medium that brings it to life. This ultimately makes the work more rewarding and the content we present more informative.
2. Crowdsourced Perspectives - I am very grateful for the time and effort that Professor Lavian put into this course, but his job is mostly to equip us with a foundational base of knowledge with regards to patents. From there, social collaboration allows us as students to creatively discuss patents in an academic environment in order to share ideas and perspectives with each other that we would not have shared before. This ultimately makes the course far more useful and fun, as there is always something new to be learned from your peers outside the classroom.
3. Content Interactivity - the collaborative aspect of the course also allowed for increased interactivity with the content, thus making it richer and easier to understand. It is generally easier for students to learn subject matter when they are able to interact with it. Social collaboration allows us as students to, in a sense, teach the subject material to our peers, which is an excellent method of learning. This increased interaction ultimately allows us to absorb knowledge and information much more quickly than just sitting in a lecture. 

What is Social Collaboration?

Social collaboration can be defined as the processes that help multiple people interact and share information to achieve any common goal. Such processes typically take place on the internet, where collaboration and conglomeration of information is made easier by current innovations.

Sharing concepts on a digital collaboration environment often facilitates a "brainstorming" process, where new concepts may emerge due to the contributions of individuals, professional or otherwise. A crucial concept behind social collaboration is that ideas are everywhere. Individuals are able to share their ideas, as it is not limited to professionals, but rather the general public who wishes to become involved.

Creativity in the Course

I am personally grateful for the opportunity we were given to be so creative with our assignments. I personally feel as though that this helped us to be more personally invested in the quality of our work and to make the assignments much more fun to complete. It also enticed us to look at each others' videos and blog posts, which ultimately enhanced our individual learning experiences as well. This creativity component has made IEOR 190G the most fun class I have taken at Cal. I enjoyed planning out the videos and bringing energy and enthusiasm to the course! It was a truly rewarding experience to use Twitter as well. I never realized how useful of a tool Twitter was. Beyond just the social aspect, Twitter is also an excellent provider of real time, up to date news. This also proved to be a very valuable aspect of the course.

Social Collaboration and Crowdsourcing

Social collaboration is similar to crowdsourcing as it involves individuals working together toward a common goal. Crowdsourcing information allows for the dissemination of different perspectives that allows for a richer and more complex learning experience. For example, while Professor Lavian knows much about the patent industry, his job is mostly to lay the foundation of knowledge and facilitate creative discussion. By ensuring that we are all well-equipped to share thoughts and ideas with each other, we can help to bolster each others' learning experiences through collaboration via the internet. Such collaboration ultimately helps to shed light on the variety of perspectives on the subject material that students in the class have. When we are able to share our thoughts and opinions with each other, we do so much more than just memorize facts - we are ultimately able to truly understand the content of the course and enjoy it that much more.

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Social collaboration ultimately proved to be an extremely valuable aspect of the course, and I am very happy that we were able to interact with the subject material, be creative in our assignments, and share our perspectives with each other. I truly recommend this class to anyone who wishes to take it in the future!