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>The Problem: >Inventors and builders often have their creativity >hampered by fears of being sued by patent holders. > >The Social Invention: >Under the current system of intellectual property, a >patent holder can sue someone for making something >that incorporates ideas outlined in a patent. This is >true even if the builder never knew about the patent >and independently developed all the ideas on their >own. This poses a problem. What kind of society allows >one person - who may or may not be using an idea - to >chill another person from actually doing things with >some version of that idea? Today, we have engineers >avoiding certain areas of design, on the rationale >that too many patents already exist in that direction, >and it is therefore too legally dangerous to make >certain kinds of things. > >What if, instead of allowing patent holders to >haphazardly sue builders for making things, we instead >allow builders to set aside a reasonable portion of >the sale price of their products into an "innovation >pool?" This pool is then available to pay all >intellectual property claims. It's up to the lawyers >to work out who gets how much of the pool, but in no >event can such claims be paid more than is available >in the pool. > >Here's how it could work: > >In August 1988, Bob Troll is awarded a patent for his >fabulous sponge mop wringing device. Bob then goes >back to his day job as the guy who puts those annoying >stickers on our fruit at the grocery store. The patent >sits on the books under the obscure title, "Patent >Number 123456789 - Head Squeezer," where it waits for >someone to make the mistake of building something >useful. In October 2001, the Wizbang Housewares >Company introduces a wonderful little toilet scrubber >that's able to squeezing the sponge remotely from the >handle. Their bowl swisher is a hit, and by mid 2003, >their device is available on five continents. Bob's >lawyer would like to wait a couple more years and then >drive Wizbang out of business by grabbing double the >total profits from all the sales in the entire history >of the product, but unfortunately the rules are >different now. 15% of the sales is set aside in the >innovation pool. This money is available to pay claims >from people like Bob, as well as the inventors of the >polymer sponge, the ergonomic lever handle, and the >shiny chrome finish - two of whom work at Wizbang. So >now, Bob's lawyer has to fight it out with the other >lawyers over what's in the innovation pool. It is >decided that Bob gets 28% of the innovation pool from >June 2003 (when he brought his claim) until August >2005 (when his patent expires), which works out to >$351,287.56, and allows him to retire early from >stickering our fruit. > >Such an innovation pool can serve as a stabilizing >feature in our economy. By making intellectual >property hazards a known quantity, creative people are >free to create, with a sturdy firewall between them >and the lawyers. If no-one comes along with an IP >claim, then the creator gets to keep 100% of the >innovation pool. If someone brings a catastrophic >claim, they can never get more than is in the pool. In >this way, inventors can spend less of their energy >thinking about the law, and there's less instability >in a knowledge economy.
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