Today I read a news article. A rather simple article from the Economist about how a patent troll was challenging Apple, a article I would've simply glossed over or skipped 16 weeks ago. But not today, today I sat down and opened the article and read it.
I believe the 2nd greatest benefit this class has given is the ability to converse and understand patent litigation on a macro level. I was able to discern why Apple lost the case, despite their army of lawyers, endless funding, and industry respect. I was able to form a opinion on the issue. And I was able to see the flaw in our PTO system. This ability in my opinion is 10 times as valuable as knowing the process of filing a patent. Imagine if you're speaking with the CEO of a startup, or even a established tech firm of which you hope to work for one day. I would guess he would be much more impressed if you could speak about the patent litigation his company is currently involved with, rather than how he should've filed his patents.
So how can this class help in the future? Short of filing your own patents, I feel the overarching knowledge this class provided is much more useful than it appears at a glance. The collaborative learning, social media, youtube, the list goes on and on. I had never created my own blog, youtube video, or twitter account until this class. Having a class dedicated to learning from my fellow classmates made me realized how much I could really gain from my peers. A lesson I wish I had learned earlier in my college career, but a tip that will be extremely valuable for senior year and beyond.
Great post Christopher. I think one of the best things that we could have learned from this class is the ability to apply our knowledge to the real world. You are now doing that (in this case with Apple). The social media is also a great asset to this class. I am better prepared for the future. Great work
ReplyDeleteHi Chris,
ReplyDeleteI certainly agree with many of the points that you raised in this post! More importantly than learning how to file a patent, we learned how to analyze patents in a broader context. This is immensely more useful, as it helps to not only know what issues other companies are facing (so that we do not repeat their mistakes), but also with regards to why patents are important and how they can be the most crucial component of a business. Learning the logistics of filing a patent is one thing (which we did briefly cover), but learning how to analyze a patent and its applications is much more useful! We learned how to use a patent as a business asset in order to monetize a business, how to defend a patent from infringers or patent trolls, and how to analyze prior art and criteria of obviousness in order to assess whether a patent is valid. This is all incredibly useful going into the future, especially if you want to start a company like I do!
I also like how you brought up the non-content related benefits of the class. We are in a world that is growing increasingly invested in social media. This has essentially made the world much closer and much smarter. Many people don't know how to use social media and don't know that these methods of accessing and sharing knowledge even exist. Especially because we live near the Silicon Valley, it is absolutely crucial that we as students are connected to the rest of the world on a level that is advancing with the times.
I really enjoyed reading your blog and your comments this semester. As usual, great post!
Sincerely,
Mo Jomaa