I don’t know which forum it belongs, C&A or here … but I will let the Mods decide.
There was a lawyer in our office yesterday and she explained the ‘Patent Laws’ governing our business. It seems our company is in a tight race with HP to get some of the technologies patented, so they don’t end up paying royalties.
I don’t quite understand the idea cos there are a lot of gray areas. For example, you can’t patent a programming language like C or Java but you can Patent the program you wrote in it. You can even patent ideas that are so general that anyone can come across them at any time. For example, drawing a circle from right to left than from left to right. DUH!!
So, has anyone dealt with these patent laws? Our company is excited about it and will shortly make a list of all our work to be legally the corporate intellectual property.
well, somewhere i can understand that ppl want to protect projects on which they've worked for 10-20 yrs and more. However, as with a lot of other things, this is usually brought ad absurdum. Unless clear regulation comes into place this will keep on happening......but the drawback is that in the new system there will be ppl who will try to find its limits as well...
AJ, funny that you mention that. My current venture deals with IP protection and the related issuesfor enterprises. I think you are in a race with HP to protect these assets. I wil tell you what you are up against. An inhouse centralized legal team at HP of 800 people, who do nothing but either protect IP or sue clients.
This is a very important matter, not sure if yur company is privately held or public but the ramification of IP on valuations is similar in both cases. The race I mentioned above will have to do with spending time and money to do Patent research and file for unique utility patents. Then manage the patent portfolio to either battle infringement or seek royalties.
Let me know if there is any way I can help you be the superstar at your firm.
