IBM On Track To Get More Than 7,000 US Patents In 2016 (venturebeat.com)

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IBM On Track To Get More Than 7,000 US Patents In 2016 (venturebeat.com)

Posted by msmash on Friday December 23, 2016 @06:40AM from the patent-quest dept.

IBM wants to put the patent war in perspective. Big Blue said that it is poised to get the most U.S. patents of any tech company for the 24th year in a row. From a report on VentureBeat: In 2015, IBM received more than 7,355 patents, down slightly from 7,534 in 2014. A spokesperson for IBM said the company is on track to receive well over 7,000 patents in 2016. In 2016, IBM is also hitting another interesting milestone, with more than 1,000 patents for artificial intelligence and cognitive computing. IBM has been at it for more than a century, and it is seeking patents in key strategic areas -- such as AI and cognitive computing. In fact, one-third of IBM's researchers are dedicated to cognitive computing. IBM CEO Ginni Rometty said during the World of Watson conference in October that the company expects to reach more than 1 billion consumers via Watson by the end of 2017. (Watson is the supercomputer that beat the world's best Jeopardy player in 2011.)

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Strategic Areas by ThatsNotPudding · 2016-12-23 06:41 · Score: 1

Patents for outsourcing and hiding profits, mostly.
1. Re:Strategic Areas by Tablizer · 2016-12-23 06:57 · Score: 1
  
  Patents for outsourcing and hiding profits, mostly.
  Washington DC has prior-art claims on that.
  Seriously, though, most these patents are probably BS. The "must be non-obvious" clause seems almost completely ignored these days. They should error on the side of rejection for obviousness, not the other way around.
  
  --
  Table-ized A.I.
2. Re:Strategic Areas by Hognoxious · 2016-12-23 10:03 · Score: 2
  
  Doing the needful.
  Doing the needful with rounded corners.
  Doing the needful with a computer.
  Doing the needful over the internet.
  Doing the needful over the internet with rounded corners.
  
  --
  Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
3. Re: Strategic Areas by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-23 22:54 · Score: 0
  
  But who will do the same? Please revert
IBM on track to.. by pablo_max · 2016-12-23 06:44 · Score: 5, Insightful

IBM on track to demonstrate just how broken the US patent system is.
I mean, for fucks sake, it's getting to where it is literally impossible for any company to produce anything at all without violating some patent from some asshole who will never even produce the fucking thing.
I think it would be better to ignore patent law all together. You know, like the US did after ww2 ;)
1. Re:IBM on track to.. by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-23 06:51 · Score: 1
  
  I patented a method for ignoring all the patent laws back in 2015. Your idea is infringing on my intellectual property and believe me there is no prior art. Want to fight about it? See you in court, sir!
2. Re:IBM on track to.. by pablo_max · 2016-12-23 06:59 · Score: 2
  
  I mean, it's funny to joke about it and all, but the US patent system is out of control. It was put it place to bring innovations into the light while still giving the innovator a limited time to make his money. I dont know what the fuck is the reason for the current system though.
3. Re:IBM on track to.. by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-23 07:20 · Score: 0
  
  You know exactly the reason for the current system. Everything is fair game to BE gamed by the corporations, who will violate the spirit of anything in their quest for profits. They pull the strings of their corrupt puppet politicians who subvert the copyright regime to benefit the corporations. And then they turn around and say YOU'RE the bad guy for not paying for that movie that they themselves screwed someone else over via Hollywood accounting.
4. Re:IBM on track to.. by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-23 07:20 · Score: 0
  
  Because individuals aren't getting the patents, corporations are. Edison was one of the first to show how fucked up the patent system is (kids are still incorrectly taught that Edison actually invented over a thousand things).
  Since many corporations would die without being able to make money on the same idea forever, and since corporations have complete control over politicians, patents can be extended forever.
  The only solution nowadays is to have a modestly successful product that goes under the radar of the corporations that have already patented the idea. Get too successful and you will be sued by everyone.
5. Re:IBM on track to.. by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-23 07:55 · Score: 0
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
6. Re:IBM on track to.. by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-23 08:00 · Score: 0
  
  Just consider any patents the US ignored after WW2 payment for all the American solders who died on the European battlefields and in SE Asia. Consider it payment for the US civilian merchant ships destroyed with all hands trying to send aid to England and the Soviet Union before the US was even in the war. Consider it payment for a US President who committed numerous actions worthy of impeachment in order to position the US in the best possible position for when the US officially entered the war. Consider it payment for all the money the US contributed to rebuild the European countries destroyed in the war. Consider it payment for 50 years of American military protection which still exists to this very today. And consider it payment because there is not one single country in the world who would have committed to doing any of this shit for the US.
7. Re:IBM on track to.. by The+Grim+Reefer · 2016-12-23 08:01 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  I patented a method for ignoring all the patent laws back in 2015. Your idea is infringing on my intellectual property and believe me there is no prior art. Want to fight about it? See you in court, sir!
  I have two similar patents, except my method is for ignoring all the patent laws while on a computer and the other while on a mobile device. I'm pretty sure your patent doesn't apply in this case, but mine does. ;-)
8. Re:IBM on track to.. by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-23 09:29 · Score: 0
  
  You and I and everyone else on this website didn't fight in WW2. I doubt 99% of us were even alive.
  The US did fight, but so did Brits and a whole googol of Russians lost their lives. It just seems a little silly for us who had no skin in the game to spout off to others about how awesome we did in a tone that echoes that the world still owes us a debt. You and I and everyone else here didn't do jack squat.
9. Re:IBM on track to.. by MountainLogic · 2016-12-23 09:55 · Score: 2
  
  The basic bargain with patents has always been tech the world how make your invention and you get a monopoly on the invention for a few years. The real, but hidden problem is the teaching. It almost always completely fails. Have you ever tried to read a patent? Let alone try tom implement from the so called teaching? I've yet to read someone else's patent that read like a text book or a specification. The teaching section is so dripping in legalese that it is useless as a technical document. Seriously, I would love to see EFF or anybody else take on a patent because it fails to teach what it claims. Want proof? Ask everyone you work with and see if any, ANY, engineer has ever had a problem and then went to the patent literature to find a solution! These documents are not written such that "one skilled in the art" can implement what is claimed. In contrast go look at the TI or National data books for TTL or analog ICs, the original IBM PC documents or even badly translated instructions from a Chinese electronics knock-off and you will find better "teaching."
10. Re: IBM on track to.. by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-23 10:35 · Score: 0
  
  I fought in WW2 you insensitive clod!
11. Re: IBM on track to.. by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-23 13:36 · Score: 0
  
  You millenials are funny, coasting on your gramps' achievements and claiming them as your own. How about you achieve something yourself instead? Oops I guess you're too pathetic for that, living in your parents house and complaining that nobody wants to hire you. Losers!
Of course they do by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-23 07:37 · Score: 3, Interesting

IBM puts all their dev/IT contractors in a room, and "suggests" they write down all ideas they have for patents, determined either during their brief time there or at any other time in their lives.
They then feed those to legal for evaluation for viability for patent application. They directly say this during the "meeting".
IBM simply strip-mines the brains of everyone who works them. I'm surprised the patents number isn't higher.
Yes, I was such a contractor, and yes, this is first-hand knowledge.
1. Re:Of course they do by 93+Escort+Wagon · 2016-12-23 07:40 · Score: 1
  
  Yes, I was such a contractor, and yes, this is first-hand knowledge.
  Don't post anonymously and we might believe you.
  
  --
  #DeleteChrome
2. Re:Of course they do by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-23 07:45 · Score: 0
  
  Can't think if any -obvious- business reason it would be ill-advised not to? You lack imagination.
  Fine, go work there. It's your career, your risk/reward calculation. Perhaps they have changed.
3. Re:Of course they do by aardvarkjoe · 2016-12-23 07:52 · Score: 2
  
  Don't post anonymously and we might believe you.
  As a current IBM employee (though not a contractor), this sounds completely plausible.
  
  --
  
  How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
4. Re:Of course they do by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-23 07:58 · Score: 0
  
  Fuck off, troll. Some of us have been posting to Slashdot since year zero. The weak attention seekers like yourself quickly registered a username. We don't want your usernames and we don't need them. The rest of us are above such narcissism.
5. Re:Of course they do by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-23 09:07 · Score: 0
  
  Shit, there's companies showing up at college career fairs who want you to tell them ideas you have for patents during "interviews" for internships.
  What did IBM do with contractors who didn't write anything down?
6. Re:Of course they do by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-23 09:25 · Score: 0
  
  (same contractor here)
  To be fair, I was not aware of any direct "reprisals" for not writing anything down.
  But, you were definitely left with the impression that you're probably harming your future there if you didn't, and it'd be impossible to prove it was that rather than "your contract was not renewed" for other business/staffing reasons.
  So, many did participate. Including myself. Not that I wrote down everything...
7. Re: Of course they do by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-23 09:50 · Score: 0
  
  Oh 93 Escort Wagon, you're my most favorite Slashdot troll.
8. Re:Of course they do by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-23 11:42 · Score: 0
  
  Also as an current IBM employee I find this ... well ... There's just too much stupidity and red tape for in such a BIG company. They're as bad as the government. It's impossible to get backfills for positions where people quit, because "hey there now 25K jobs" in new departments and hiring freezes everywhere else. WTF! As for cost savings...why is there only one provider to go through for capital purchases? No seriously, it's like buying a hammer with the government; it's 5-10x more expensive than just going to a brick&mortar store and then expensing the items. Don't get me started on the whole Cloud initiative...let's just move all our SaaS products to our "Enterprise Ready" [B.S.] Cloud infrastructure, because it's only costing Blue Dollars and not green dollars; ugh...it actually costs more than a co-lo.
9. Re:Of course they do by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-23 11:53 · Score: 0
  
  no one makes you tell IBM your ideas , do they ?
  I mean, you giving them stuff for free, stop whining
  you could just as easily wait a year after leaving IBM and file on your own...oh, filing is $ and alot of work and very uncertain..I see, you have no interest in filing on the stuff you are complaining that IBM took from you ??
  anyhow, how on earth is your complaint in any way new ?
  I mean, for the mere 20 years ive been around biotech, you work for someone, they get your ideas, that is the way the game is played
10. Re:Of course they do by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-23 15:01 · Score: 0
  
  You seem marginally literate, but I'll play anyway.
  "no one makes you tell IBM your ideas , do they ?"
  I consider this coercive behavior, whether you call it "makes" or not. If you are expected to perform such services, or provide such value that was not mentioned nor negotiated up-front, causing you to have to risk your livelihood if you refuse, I do not consider that fundamentally acceptable as a business practice. Does it happen widely? Of course. That in no way means one should not object when it does.
  "that is the way the game is played"
  They "get your ideas" whether or not the ideas were generated related to your work at your employer? Then biotech is a different industry, and the expectation priced into your salary, or you signed something to that effect joining on. I did not.
11. Re:Of course they do by Aristos+Mazer · 2016-12-23 17:00 · Score: 1
  
  Plausible doesn't mean proof. With no verifiability of the story, it should be treated as Internet spam. CITATION NEEDED. If you need anonymity, use a public proxy like a known journalist who can vet your story and then post for you. Yes, that's a lot of work to go through for a slashdot post, but without it, it's just Internet noise. You might as well not even post.
12. Re:Of course they do by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-23 17:54 · Score: 0
  
  "Yes, that's a lot of work to go through for a slashdot post..."
  No, it's an absurd amount of work to go through, and has no relationship to either common practice here or elsewhere, nor does your "personal mandate" of what is acceptable posting matter even the slightest degree over exactly zero.
  You have a recounting of someone's experience. It is precisely as valuable as that. You are free to discount it, or not. If however, one finds this an item of note and it could effect them personally, preemptive clarification of current IBM policy and expectations may well be a useful action.
13. Re:Of course they do by Doghouse13 · 2016-12-24 07:58 · Score: 1
  
  I don't have specific experience as a contractor, but - with a different spin - it seems eminently plausible. I was a permanent employee for decades, and IBM was always keen to encourage people to develop potential patents, in any area and on any topic whatsoever (and reward them for doing so - a few people made serious money in the process). The attitude was basically that a patent you owned was of value, whatever it might be and whether it had any relevance to your direct business or not, even if it only meant that a competitor agreed more readily to mutual access to THEIR patents (which is why I always smile wryly whenever I see another, outraged "IBM has patented xxxxxx!" post). Ideas that were good, but not quite up to true patent quality, were disclosed, to put them in the public domain and render them useless to other potential filers. I have no doubt that they would have attempted to get contractors involved as well. I guess that if you see yourself as a body for hire, only there in the short term, you might see the process as an attempt at "strip-mining", but seen from another angle I knew plenty of people who had multiple patents to their names (and on their CVs), who would never have brought them to publication without the program in question.
14. Re:Of course they do by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-24 11:02 · Score: 0
  
  (same contractor, again)
  
  "who would never have brought them to publication without the program in question"
  
  To clarify on this point, since it's been questioned in two replies now, I am in fact a credited co-inventor on two registered patents, which were developed with an entirely different client than IBM, and unrelated to my work there. One factor in this, is that this client was willing to acknowledge value to my ideas beyond paying me simply for the time of writing them down to be shuffled off to legal, before continuing with my next hourly-compensated dev task.
  
  "a few people made serious money in the process"
  
  You've summarized the difference in attitude quite succinctly.
I just got a new patent. by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-23 07:38 · Score: 0

The title is "Use of the urethra for the purposes of urination". Licensing fees will be fairly reasonable except for IBM. Checks can be sent to my bank in the Caymans.
1. Re:I just got a new patent. by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-23 11:57 · Score: 0
  
  a patent has to be useful and nonobvious
  prior publication or common knowledge defines something as obvious
  so, I'm really confused as to how this claim was allowed
  PS: what, precisely, is your claim language ?
boooo by Anonymous Coward · 2016-12-23 22:08 · Score: 0

IBM is a horrible company that nowadays does not invent anything and is mostly staffed by beancounters, managers and thugs. I work via IBM as a contractor and had to sign a paper that more or less every idea I ever had, have or going to have in my life, be it in my own free time or on work hours, would belong to IBM and by signing I would give up any rights to fight this in court ever. They won the contract by underbidding with below market hour tariffs and are now claiming the jobs being 'specialist' jobs with higher tariffs that are more realistic thereby fucking over both their customer and companies that offered a realistic price but who lost due to IBM being cheaper. What a disgrace of a company. Even their own staff is excusing themselves for 'company policies' on a regular basis. Makes me think of the mafia more than of a real company.