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This article mentions that intellectual ventures invented a type of super antenna for improving wifi bandwidth on flights. Pardon my ignorance on this subject,

by S_A_P 14y ago

This article mentions that intellectual ventures invented a type of super antenna for improving wifi bandwidth on flights. Pardon my ignorance on this subject, but aren't they a patent troll? I'm not overly encouraged that this thing will actually be built and put to market.

kevingadd 14y ago
Patent trolling is one of their revenue streams (i.e. acquiring patents from others and then using them to get truckloads of money out of vulnerable companies already using similar technology) but they do perform actual research. Sometimes. I'm not aware of any commercialized products based on their research, but they probably exist.
- sharpshoot 14y ago
  Terrapower - the travelling wave nuclear reactor is a product of their work. Bill Gates also invested in this company, and has strong potential to solve for humanity's demand for energy versus other forms of nuclear power. http://terrapower.com/home.aspx http://terrapower.com/home.aspx
- rpm4321 14y ago
  There was a lengthy article I read a number of years ago - the source escapes me (maybe Technology Review) - that described their process at length. To call what they do "research" or "inventing" is to twist those words beyond all meaning. They contract with a number of domain experts in various fields, fly them into Seattle as consultants, and hold multi-hour brainstorming sessions where they basically throw a bunch of loose concepts at a whiteboard and see what sticks. Like all patent trolls, they basically identify where a valuable invention is likely to occur sometime in the future, have lawyers draw up a sufficiently vague patent application, and spray and pray - and then prey. There is zero follow up - no prototyping, no CAD files, no R&D, no clinical trials, no betas, no execution - it goes from nebulous "idea" straight to the legal department. If Myhrvold is an inventor, then Arthur C. Clarke's estate should get royalties on every satellite in orbit, and Gene Roddenberry's should get a piece of every iPhone sold. Wait, I take that back - Myhrvold is an inventor after all. He's the Henry Ford of patent trolling - a pioneer in its mass production.
  - WalterGR 14y ago
    There is zero follow up - no prototyping, no CAD files, no R&D, no clinical trials, no betas, no execution - it goes from nebulous "idea" straight to the legal department. Is that uncommon?
    - rpm4321 14y ago
      For an inventor or a patent troll? I'm disputing them being characterized as anything but the latter.
      - WalterGR 14y ago
        For the average patent.
        rpm4321 14y ago
        I suppose that depends on how pervasive patent trolling has become. But yes, I would say that the development of the vast majority of inventions worth protecting would necessitate more than some scribbling on a bar napkin. If the process begins with some vague "inspiration" about where an invention may lie, and then promptly ends with a call to your lawyer - no feasibility testing, no fleshing out of the concept, no iteration of thought, I would say that the patent system is fundamentally broken.

by S_A_P 14y ago

kevingadd 14y ago

Patent trolling is one of their revenue streams (i.e. acquiring patents from others and then using them to get truckloads of money out of vulnerable companies already using similar technology) but they do perform actual research. Sometimes. I'm not aware of any commercialized products based on their research, but they probably exist.

sharpshoot 14y ago
Terrapower - the travelling wave nuclear reactor is a product of their work. Bill Gates also invested in this company, and has strong potential to solve for humanity's demand for energy versus other forms of nuclear power. http://terrapower.com/home.aspx http://terrapower.com/home.aspx
rpm4321 14y ago
There was a lengthy article I read a number of years ago - the source escapes me (maybe Technology Review) - that described their process at length. To call what they do "research" or "inventing" is to twist those words beyond all meaning. They contract with a number of domain experts in various fields, fly them into Seattle as consultants, and hold multi-hour brainstorming sessions where they basically throw a bunch of loose concepts at a whiteboard and see what sticks. Like all patent trolls, they basically identify where a valuable invention is likely to occur sometime in the future, have lawyers draw up a sufficiently vague patent application, and spray and pray - and then prey. There is zero follow up - no prototyping, no CAD files, no R&D, no clinical trials, no betas, no execution - it goes from nebulous "idea" straight to the legal department. If Myhrvold is an inventor, then Arthur C. Clarke's estate should get royalties on every satellite in orbit, and Gene Roddenberry's should get a piece of every iPhone sold. Wait, I take that back - Myhrvold is an inventor after all. He's the Henry Ford of patent trolling - a pioneer in its mass production.
- WalterGR 14y ago
  There is zero follow up - no prototyping, no CAD files, no R&D, no clinical trials, no betas, no execution - it goes from nebulous "idea" straight to the legal department. Is that uncommon?
  - rpm4321 14y ago
    For an inventor or a patent troll? I'm disputing them being characterized as anything but the latter.
    - WalterGR 14y ago
      For the average patent.
      - rpm4321 14y ago
        I suppose that depends on how pervasive patent trolling has become. But yes, I would say that the development of the vast majority of inventions worth protecting would necessitate more than some scribbling on a bar napkin. If the process begins with some vague "inspiration" about where an invention may lie, and then promptly ends with a call to your lawyer - no feasibility testing, no fleshing out of the concept, no iteration of thought, I would say that the patent system is fundamentally broken.