Patents - Relevant for students?

Spadez

Hi,

I'm not sure if this is the right forum but I couldn't seem to find a better suited one. I am doing a project on the value and cost of patents to students.

I was wondering if anyone had an opinion on this on this forum. My personal opinion is that generally patents are not all that effective, but especially to students who don't have the financial backing to peruse legal action for infringements.

I love to hear any other opinions though.

regards,

James

JamesJamz

Hi James,

I don't quite understand what your asking here, are you saying parents do not have an effect on students? Or are you saying parents will not lend students money? :S

I am a student by the way

Spadez

Hi.

Its patents, not parents!

JamesJamz

Spadez wrote: »

Hi.

Its patents, not parents!

Doh! Too much drink last night :mad:

lincroft1710

If you have invented the greatest thing since sliced bread and you don't patent it, then anyone can copy it and there's sweet FA you can do about it.

scotsbob

lincroft1710 wrote: »

If you have invented the greatest thing since sliced bread and you don't patent it, then anyone can copy it and there's sweet FA you can do about it.

OK and so you do patent it and it gets copied, what do you do? This is what the OP is asking.

Having the law on your side and being able to afford to go to law are two separate things.

If you kept control of the invention yourself then the costs of you, or your small company, getting involved in litigation could be prohibitive. Even more so if the invention was copied abroad. Could a small UK company afford to start litigation in China or Malaysia if the defendants started delaying tactics?

However if you licensed your invention to a large international, or multi national company, then they would take the legal action to protect their license.

It is usually the case that when something really worthwhile is patented, other companies find ways to circumvent the patent restrictions. Examples that come to mind are Hoover and Biro.

GilbertGradgrind

The Intellectual Property position between Institution and Student is usually weighted in favour of the Insitution. It depends on the Institution the student is at, normally the Instituion owns everything (or claims to). A Student can take out a patent in conjunction with their Institution. Have a look in the Intellectual Property Office's website (http://www.ipo.gov.uk/) particularly at the nondisclosure agreement. On a more global scale have a look at the World Intelectual Property Organisation (http://www.wipo.int/portal/index.html.en)

The first principle of patents is that you do not talk about what you are patenting until you have protections in place. So much of the research can be things that you discover yourself in relation to your own innovations. This tends to work against students who have a lot less experience than the Faculty of an Institution. So, the relationship will always be likely to be unequal. Which is where finding a good mentor - within the Insitution - can help.

The problem - as you point out - is mainly of infringement. Patents are not realistically worth a lot as anybody can manufacture an object without permission. The problem - particularly for students - is enforcement. The cost of patent registration is minimal compared to the cost of prosecuting someone for infringement. The Open Source Community - in music, engineering and software - sidestep the issue by placing the innovation into the public domain. Which further undermines the value of any patent.