It has always been difficult for inventors to get their products on store shelves. The decision of what to put on a store’s shelf was typically made by the store buyer who often went with the major brands.
However, Walmart has recently launched the “Get on the Shelf Contest” that allows anyone to submit video online pitching his or her invention. The three products receiving the most votes will be sold on Walmart.com, and the grand prize winner will get shelf space in select Walmart stores.
The contest ends on February 22. Additional information can be found
here.
Published on
January 20, 2012 in
Patents.
Can you guess what Apple’s patent application
2012/0016678 (published yesterday) covers?
Hint #1:
The abstract of application reads as follows:
An intelligent automated assistant system engages with the user in an integrated, conversational manner using natural language dialog, and invokes external services when appropriate to obtain information or perform various actions. The system can be implemented using any of a number of different platforms, such as the web, email, smartphone, and the like, or any combination thereof. In one embodiment, the system is based on sets of interrelated domains and tasks, and employs additional functionally powered by external services with which the system can interact.
Hint #2:
The application claims the benefit of a provisional application with “attorney docket number SIRIP003P“.
If you guessed that this application relates to
Siri, Apple’s intelligent software assistant and navigator for the iOS operating system, you are right!
And, presumably, the attorney docket number of the non-provisional is SIRIP003 (without the “P”).
The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has announced that it will finally open its Detroit satellite office. The office will house about 100 patent examiners in the former Parke-Davis Lab. (Perhaps more interestingly, the building was formerly the headquarters of Stroh’s Brewery.) Plans for a Detroit satellite office were announced in December 2010 but put on hold because of budget constraints.
The Patent Office has plans for at least two more satellite offices. But where?
So far, efforts have been made for Austin, Texas and California.
Public comments on the location of the next two satellite offices can be made by end of this month to satelliteoffices@uspto.gov.
Founder of Wikipedia Jimmy Wales has announce via Twitter that the web site will be shut down for 24 hours this Wednesday in protest of proposed legislation known as the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).
In his “tweet”, Wales wrote:
“Student warning! Do your homework early. Wikipedia protesting bad law on Wednesday! #sopa”
On Wednesday, instead of being able to access Wikipedia, users will see instructions on how to reach members of Congress to protest the proposed legislation.
As currently written, the SOPA bill would allow copyright holders to seek court orders against websites that facilitate copyright infringement.
Opponents of the bill claim that SOPA chills free speech.
Published on
January 7, 2012 in
Patents.
Microsoft has been issued a highly controversial
patent that allows one to create a pedestrian-based route that avoids traveling through an “unsafe neighborhood”. Dubbed the “Avoid Ghetto Patent”, a “generation component…can analyze the information and construct a direction set that allows the user to take paths that take him to his home in a quickest amount of time while keeping the user relatively safe (e.g., taking the user through neighborhoods with violent crime statistics below a certain threshold).”
The system can employ an “artificial intelligence component” to draw “inferences” or “capture logical relationships such as theorem provers or more heuristic rule-based expert systems.” So if the “artifical intelligence component” determines that a potential pedestrian path might cross into an area having certain demographics, presumately the software would advise avoiding this area.
One can see how “inferences” might be drawn between the ethnicity or race of persons in an area and the area being considered “unsafe”.
So the question is: Why would Microsoft want the bad PR from such a controversial patent?
What were they thinking?
As a follow-up to a previous post regarding China’s surge in patent applications, it is worth noting several important aspects of the Chinese patent system. The first is that most patent applications in China are not based on substantive examination. Instead, the applications are simply approved if the application is correctly filled out. Essentially, most of the patents issued are “registered” rather than examined. Secondly, the filing costs for domestic companies are subsidized by the Chinese government, making it rather cheap to file in China. Third, companies which own a certain number of patents are classified as “high tech” companies which are subject to lower taxation, providing a powerful incentive for filing patents. As a result of the forgoing, at the present time, Chinese patents are oftenn of low quality.
An excellent blog post on this subject can be found
here in the
Intellectual Asset Management blog.
Published on
December 21, 2011 in
Patents.
The World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) has issued a report (2011 World Intellectual Property Indicators (WIPI) Report) which details the state of world intellectual property filings — and the findings are that despite the economic downturn, 2011 has seen a marked increase in worldwide patent filings. According to the report, which shows data up to 2010, the US and China accounted for about 80% of the 7.2% growth in patent filings. After two years of almost no growth in patent filings, the US Patent and Trademark Office saw a 7.5% increase in 2010. China saw a 24.2% increase. The European Patent Office experienced a 12.2% growth. Also, for the first time, the Chinese Patent Office has surpassed the Japanese Patent Office in terms of number of filings.
The report shows that computer technology, electrical machinery, audio-visual technology and medical technology accounted for the largest shares of patent filings worldwide.
Thomson Reuters has issued two research reports assessing innovation in China. The first, Invented in China assesses total patent volumes and highlights growing areas of innovation activity in China. Special Report: Trademarks in China tracks trends in trademark activity in China over the last 20 years and analyzes trademark activities of the world’s leading brands.
The findings are astounding:
Patent Filings: According to estimates, China now leads the world in patent application filings. By the year 2015, China will publish about 393,000 applications annually. In contrast, US companies (and individuals) now account for about 240,000 patent applications per year. However, the US Patent & Trademark Office processes about 500,000 applications per year, some of which are filed by foreign entities.
Trademark Applications: Despite being seen as a country that does not respect branding and where counterfeiting is still widespread, since the year 2000, trademark filings have increased 450%.
However, the research also shows that the most innovative companies in the world are located in the United States, Europe, and Japan. Furthermore, Chinese companies have been slow to expand globally — only 5.6 percent of Chinese inventions are protected by international filings. From what I see, this is going to change in the next few years.
A new exhibit at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) honors the patent and trademarks of Steve Jobs. The free exhibit will be open to the public until January 15th at the atrium of the Madison Building, in Alexandria, Virginia, and features 30 giant iPhones displaying over 300 patent and trademarks in which Jobs was named an inventor.
The exhibit was designed by
Invent Now, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering invention and creativity through its many programs. Invent Now also runs the National Inventors Hall of Fame and Musem located on the USPTO campus.
Photo used by permission from Mac Rumors.
