In this last blog post I will be discussing the value that I gained from taking this class. Now apart from the value added from the social-media tools that we used throughout the course of the semester that I discussed in my last blog post, I can proudly say IEOR 190G taught me a lot of material that will stick with me for a long time.
Nowadays everyone has heard of the word "patent", but knowing more about patents than "its that thing where you get to call something yours and sue people for using it" is relatively uncommon. I signed up for this course because I have a great interest in entrepreneurial ideas or solutions and I wanted to be more educated on patents and Intellectual Property as they relate to products in general. This course gave me a lot of insight pertaining to those topics and even if I may not be able to write an approvable patent application entirely by myself, I learnt a lot.
From learning the basics of how to read the actual document, to strategizing ways to protect oneself from Patent Troll litigation IEOR 190G made me familiar with all aspects of the patent process from the submission of the application to infringement litigation. Now I by no means plan to become a Patent Lawyer, and if I did then this would be the wrong course to take, but I do aspire to run my own business, a business whose success might very well gravitate around a solution or service that I wouldn't want my competitors to offer.
Following this course, I am even more convinced than I was at its start that being educated about the tradeoffs that a patent present you is essential when dealing with any form of Intellectual Property. Knowing the value added of keeping an invention a trade secret versus the cost of competitors using your inventions before you can claim ownership was specifically enlightening to me... especially in a world where everyone wants you to sign non-disclosure agreements but few agree!
I plan to use the knowledge that I learned in this class to make more informed business decisions, whether they regard my own intellectual property or my employer's. After having taken this class I will also be able to have fruitful conversations with patent lawyers and experts without the fear of feeling exploited or pushed around.
Lastly, from a more overarching point of view, I feel like IEOR 190G might have slightly changed my paradigm regarding originality of work. I have always been a stickler for originality being very biased against those who copy, however seeing how non-obvious use of prior arts truly can produce novel, original and useful inventions might have changed my mind. In today's "remix" culture where infinite information is at our fingertips and new inventions pop up every day, I feel that the most wonderful solutions build off the combination of more pre-existing entities whether we are talking about the Apple Watch or Bob Dylan's music.
As you may have inferred, IEOR 190G taught me a lot this semester and I could be more thankful to Prof. Lavian for teaching the class in the manner that he did. If you are interested in intellectual property, being an entrepreneur, or even simply dealing with new inventions, I highly recommend that you take this course.
As per usual feel free to view the video below for a discussion on the above.
On that note I thank you all for reading my blog posts and I wish you all the best for your futures.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteVery great last blog post, I enjoyed how you tied the whole semester together and talked about how everyone has heard the word patent as its a rather trendy word getting thrown around all the time. It was interesting learning in such a collaborative way and I agree that it will be interesting to see where this new information about patents takes our IP in the future.
Hi there!
ReplyDeleteI also felt like I sympathized with a lot of the points you mentioned here! Honestly, I was also a stickler for originality and felt that many times, whenever people would copyright my work or take inspiration from it, that I would be quite angry and mad. But when you realize that most if not not all creative work stems from the work of someone else, it makes you see that "creativity" is a product of harnessing the ideas and work of others. In a way, we are simply leveraging the brains of our peers to improve and grow! And then once I realized this, I started to see that my creativity was also stemming for other's ideas and thoughts and began to feel less "angry" about past incidences where my ideas were used as inspiration. It is simply a necessary part of the creative cycle!
Wow! What a comprehensive last post, you really hit the mark on talking about all the highlighting issues talked about in our class this semester. I really liked your idea about how this class will further allow us to make informed business ideas. I agree - this class did so much more than tell me about how to patent. It gave a very well-rounded idea of what we should think about in making good business decisions. It was also really interesting to hear about patents versus other forms of protection such as just using a trade secret. It is insightful to know that sometimes, patents may not actually be the best idea!
ReplyDeleteHeyy! That was a really insightful blog post! Thanks for sharing :) I completely agree with you that this course changed how I think about so many things. For example, I completely agree that this course changed my paradigm regarding originality of work. I have always been a stickler for originality being very biased against those who copy, however seeing how non-obvious use of prior arts truly can produce novel, original and useful inventions might have changed my mind. Thanks for sharing your insight on this idea and for all the great blog posts throughout the semester!! :)
ReplyDeleteHi Olivier, this post really resounds with me. I was exactly that person who only barely heard of what "patent" was, and had that exact thought of thinking, "its that thing where you get to call something yours and sue people for using it"! I really transformed my viewpoint towards patent through this class, and it doesn't seem too daunting after all!
ReplyDeleteHi Oliviero,
ReplyDeleteAwesome, comprehensive post summarizing your opinions on so many facets of the course over the semester. I totally agree with you in the sense that this course provides an overarching ability for you as a young entrepreneur to truly gain a foundational understanding of the professional world we are about to enter into. There are so many different legal terms that arise, such as the difference between trade secret and patent as you mentioned, that can really make entering into the tech industry a daunting venture. I think the value of this course is derived from the Professor's ability to connect with us and provide a clear understanding of what makes a patent a patent, what separates it from all the other forms of protection, and what are the dangers and costs associated with the patent industry. I'm also glad to hear how your opinion changed about the "originality" of work. I agree with you that we all are particularly concerned about defending our own work from being copied, but this class really opened up my eyes on how much progress we could generate as a team more so than as separate individuals. Awesome post and its been a pleasure reading your blog over the past semester.
Hello Oliviero,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your blog post. You provided a great understanding of the patent process as well as the pointing out that Intellectual Property has other components such as trade secrets. I was cool to see how you reflected on the fact that originality is often not what it seems. Many patents and inventions draw upon previous ideas and inventions. This was another thing Professor Tal wanted to accomplish, showing us that a good method of growth is through crowdsourcing and learning from others. It was inspiring to read that you want to run your own business, and I think you put a lot of good points forward that I will learn a lot from. Great post and great work throughout the semester.
Cheers
Hey Oliviero,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post because I feel like we were both on the same page in terms of what we got out of this class. I also came into the class without a real understanding of what a patent is but now I can confidently say I have a lot of knowledge which I can teach others. I'm glad you plan to apply what you have learned to your future endeavors in business. I echo your sentiment when you say you have alwasy been a supporter of originality but now have an open mind to remixing and building off other peoples ideas.
Hey Oliviero,
ReplyDeleteGreat title, made me laugh and drew my attention in right away. I liked how you analyzed the present and future value of this class, from learning how to read patent documents to making informed business decisions in the future. Looking forward to see where you go with this knowledge.
Hi!
ReplyDeleteWow you were very detailed in going through what you learned in this class! It was great reading your post, and it really refreshed my memory on some of the things I learned as well.
I like how you talked about the tradeoffs with patents: how knowing the value added of keeping an invention a trade secret versus the cost of competitors using your inventions before you can claim ownership was also really interesting to me.
I'm glad that you will be able to use this in the future, so you won't feel exploited or pushed around when you work in the future.
Hi Oliviero,
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with many of the points that you brought up in this post. I too found that this class has helped me to make more informed business decisions with regards to patents. It will be incredibly helpful to be able to speak with lawyers and other entrepreneurs intelligently about intellectual property, and I am also appreciative of the way we learned to combat a patent troll. From learning how to file a patent, to learning how to analyze one in a broader and more relevant context, this class was incredibly helpful.
I also liked how you brought up prior arts and how they are remixed in order to create innovation. I actually never really thought about this until you brought it up, but I also used to be a stickler for "originality" as well. But after watching those Ted Talk videos specifically, I really realized how prevalent remixing prior art really is. Without using past inventions as a basis point, there is nothing to build off of, which actually hinders innovation. The most creative and innovative ideas are the ones that build off old ideas. I think that this was a valuable lesson that I pulled away from the class as well!
Thanks again for the great blog posts this semester! Great job!
Sincerely,
Mo Jomaa
Great job on this post as well. I learned a lot going thorough your posts all this semester, and you did a good job summering the benefits of this class. I think it is important that you pointed how essential it to have a patent technology background, especially since intellectual property issues are everywhere now. I am glad I can come out of this class and be able to talk about them in a fluent fashion.
ReplyDelete