Thursday, February 12, 2009

Financial guys and patents

From tradingmarkets:

David Stewart states in his report: "The software really is dynamic. But, again, the important thing is that it's also heavily patented and the patent has been so heavily infringed on that triple damages are now being sought. If the adage is true, if "imitation really is the sincerest form of flattery", then the same thing could probably be said of plagiarism or even the outright piracy of an intellectual property. My point being, if WordLogic's technology is good enough for Mercedes-Benz, it's probably very good technology!"

Scary!

See also:

Governor Corzine, as a former chairman of Goldman, Sachs & Co. may have been a big wheel in the world of finance, but the bond vote shows that everyday people may have a better grasp on what will, and will not, likely make money. The projections on patent royalties resulting from the research, made both here and in California, are utter fantasy, and now we have a vote wherein everyday taxpayers recognized the snake oil for what it was. There was no quantifiable payback. Finance guys are NOT the ones to be lecturing others concerning the world of invention and innovation.

from:
http://ipbiz.blogspot.com/2007/11/new-jersey-voters-reject-bond-measure.html

***Elsewhere, "Eleventh Hour" on 12 Feb 09 had Rachel doing a patent search for an invention lengthening telomeres (Pinocchio
Effect) in a show otherwise about human cloning and organ harvesting. The show definitely put a downbeat spin on SCNT.

***Separately, employee-inventors made out big in Britain. IAM reported:

The UK’s High Court has awarded two former employees of Amersham International (renamed GE Healthcare after its acquisition by GE in 2004) a total of £1.5 million. This after it found that as co-inventors of a radiopharmaceutical heart imaging agent called Myoview they were entitled to receive a proportion of the product’s value to the company.

**UPDATE.

Financial guys may not know much about patents, and, in the case of Jon Corzine, may not know much about running a state.
Shortly after Corzine was defeated in his re-election bid, New Jersey was listed as having one of the 10 worst economies in the US:

According to a Pew Center on the States' analysis released 11 Nov 09, the 10 most troubled states are: Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.

(...)

New Jersey: The Garden State, which has been plagued by years of fiscal mismanagement, spends more than it collects in revenue. The collapse of Wall Street, which supports about one-third of New Jersey's economy, has only made matters worse.

**UPDATE. On Goldman and Greece

The most stinging criticism last week came from Phil Angelides, chairman of the US financial crisis inquiry commission, who said he had been most struck so far in his probe by the way in which Goldman had been "creating and selling securities and then betting against them". In reference to Greece, he said the practice extended to the creation and selling of foreign debt instruments. "I find it troubling," he said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/feb/28/goldman-sachs-investment-banking-greece

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