Are we being overprotective?
In my previous post, I spoke about idea killers. Now, since the news of Google vs Microsoft and Apple, I'm starting to wonder if we are being overprotective of our ideas and, more importantly, is it hurting innovation?
On Facebook, I read about people in the intellectual property business referring to patents as "hunting licenses." That seems like an accurate description when you take into account the existence of companies, called non-practicing entities, that exist solely for the purpose of filing patents and defending them (i.e., suing others that may not have done due diligence when launching a product or business or filing their own patents.) I got into the wrong business.
While I have entertained filing several patents on inventions I've thought up, the cost of - or at the very least the time invested into - filing those patents is extraordinary when you take into account the research required in order to avoid infringing on an existing patent. There's something wrong here.
At the 2009 PromaxBDA Conference in New York, I asked Mike Walsh whether he believes that we are being overprotective when it comes to intellectual property and, as a result, are we being left behind? His answer, in a nutshell, was "Yes." Mike specializes in the "digital future" and emerging markets. His presentation, on how working together other countries' consumers are leveraging their collective power, was almost foreshadowing our present economic state. Just look at how the US's GDP growth percentage pales in comparison now to other countries like China, India... even Peru!
I'm no financial expert, so I don't want to digress too far toward what has already been hashed and rehashed by current local news outlets. In a nutshell, I am concerned that if we don't start to come together and share ideas instead of clasping on to them so tightly (like we do now) the negative effects will reverberate well beyond creative.
Let's be clear. I'm not referring to giving away your marketing tactics or ideas on growing your business (although, to a degree, there is value in that.) I'm referring to innovation; Inventions or ideas that can help individuals or society as a whole. It's an "open source" mentality for creativity. Where do we begin to loosen the reigns for the sake of growth? Despite Google's litigation issues, I think Google+ is a big step in the right direction. The term social-network no longer applies. It's an idea-network.
-Anthony
