Inventor Speaks on IP: the Creative Generalist Interviews Adrian Chernoff
In a recent post, the Creative Generalist Blog interviewed inventor Adrian Chernoff. The interview is primarily about creativity (and well worth reading for that reason). We reprint here, however, that part of the interview concerning Chernoff's view of how the patent process is driving more and more conflict today than ever before.
Adrian Chernoff, (left) is the Chief Creative Officer of Ideation Genesis, an innovation company based in Boulder, Colorado. He creates and develops a wide array of novel consumer goods – everything from story-telling products to technology products.
By his thirty-fifth birthday he received his 50th U.S. patent in addition to the dozen international patents he already held. At General Motors he was awarded the title of Master Inventor and the Chairman’s Honor Award for leading GM’s pioneering efforts in developing the AUTOnomy, Hy-Wire, CARousel, and Sequel technology vehicles. At Walt Disney Imagineering he worked on creating theme park rides, and at NASA, he developed new concepts and hardware for their space programs.
Q: Your site www.adrianchernoff.com proudly touts that you have 60 patents (from 112 applications). What is your view of the patent process and the changing nature of intellectual property?
A: The patent process is relatively new the United States, but it is accelerating. In 1836 the first patent was issued and it took 75 years until the first millionth patent was issued in 1911.
The seventh millionth patent took 10% of the time than the first million at 74 months. I have done some basic calculations and I estimate the eight millionth patent will be issued on April 20, 2010, just 49 months later.
It is evident that more and more patents are being issued every day even thought the backlog is increasing with an average award time of 2.5 to 4 years.
The patent process is starting to yield patents that are both more valuable and quantifiable. Patents are fueling new business start-ups with equity financing and are becoming viable means for proving the inventor(s) on record.
In today’s age more and more lawsuits are being awarded for patent infringement and that’s a good sign. It means that patents are becoming a commodity. As patents become more important so does the role of the inventor and the need for inventors.
The patent process is expensive and is time consuming, but it can be rewarding. This is the only process that can give an organization or an individual a legal monopoly for a short period of time.
And because of this monopoly there are organizations that have cropped up that are patenting things to own them like real estate holdings. These organizations have no intent on turning the patents into products and services, but rather to cash in them at a later date.
This new business model may cause more conflict than growth in the future.
