Friday, May 2, 2014
Wrap Up: Reflections on IEOR 190G
My interest in engineering patents actually arose in a geography class when we were debating the Monsanto case with regards to patented genes, which led to question several themes encircling this article: should we patent life? Having fostered a strong interest in technology, I wanted to learn more, and that is why I enrolled in this class, IEOR 190G.
After a semester, I would definitely recommend this class to future Cal students, whether you're a business/econ student like me, or a software engineer, aspiring entrepreneur, lawyer, or litigation consultant. Coming from little to no background in how patents work, I now have a clearer picture of the web of interaction between businesses, the USPTO, startups, PAEs (patent trolls), and financial institutions. This class is valuable to me for pragmatic reasons because I am interested in valuation in finance where patents will come into play, just think the Motorola buy and sell.
I especially enjoyed hearing the guest speakers and Professor Lavian's broad experiences in industry. I can only hope to return in 5-10 years time and pay it forward, wherever my knowledge building takes me. Good luck, IEOR 190G Class of Spring 2014! It's been a ball.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I agree that valuation of IP is important to understand. The fact that investors would be willing to hold IP as collateral is an indicator of the value of patents. As an intended entrepreneur, I know now to find good lawyers and thoroughly go through the patent process. In particular, the story about the graduate student who thought of Google's search engine before Google was a great learning experience; no matter how much innovation I create, it's worthless in monetary terms unless I secure IP.
ReplyDeleteI think this class provides a great degree of exposure to the technology space by giving us a solid foundation of patent knowledge and using case studies to show the different patent strategies corporations employ to secure their position in the market. I do believe patents contribute tremendously in the overall value of a company, as shown in the hefty price tag of Google and Motorola's patent portfolio transaction. And as with every act of valuation, it is more of an art than science - there really isn't a systematic way of determining the value of each patent, and I think that is what makes these patent wars so interesting. We get to see how companies often magnify the importance and value of a seemingly trivial patent (think slide-to-unlock patent from Google) by being involved in endless patent litigations that are extremely costly. Is this really all worth it? That is definitely something to think about when it comes down to determining the value associated with a patent.
ReplyDelete