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

Posted by msmash on 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.)

13 of 34 comments (clear)

  1. Strategic Areas by ThatsNotPudding · · Score: 1

    Patents for outsourcing and hiding profits, mostly.

    1. Re:Strategic Areas by Tablizer · · 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 · · 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."
  2. IBM on track to.. by pablo_max · · 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 · · 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 · · 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 The+Grim+Reefer · · 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. ;-)

    4. Re:IBM on track to.. by MountainLogic · · 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."

  3. Of course they do by Anonymous Coward · · 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 · · 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 aardvarkjoe · · 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?
    3. Re:Of course they do by Aristos+Mazer · · 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.

    4. Re:Of course they do by Doghouse13 · · 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.