Posts Tagged: "funding innovation"

IV founder Edward Jung says US is losing its competitive edge in funding innovative startups

EDWARD JUNG: ”At the other end of that value chain you now have some of the most valuable companies in the entire world in places like China. What stops them from taking all of the value they’ve been able to derive from their over one billion population base, which well capitalizes them, and coming in and competing in the US? The US has not seen so many threats to their industry come from outside the US as opposed to within the US so in that sense I think that’s a whole new set of interesting problems to think about. I’ve actually had encounters with Chinese companies asking if there was some kind of, you know, hidden trick in the way we appear to be opening our market for them to freely come in without any IP barriers. For example, in pairing software and IP and so on and so forth.”

The Second Mouse Gets the Cheese – The Innovator’s IP Dilemma

While the startup probably had an initial 100% market share due to a temporary de facto monopoly, such share rapidly decreases as soon as others start selling to the same customers. Worse, many times, one of those fast followers is a large entrenched company that has deep R&D teams, seemingly unlimited budgets, well-known brands and established distribution channels in many key geographies that took decades to build. They can play catchup really fast. In other words, the only thing going for the startup at that point (assuming it could not possibly achieve this scaling up over such a short period of time) is the uniqueness of its technology and its ability to out innovate others. This in turn is only true if the new technology it brings to market is adequately protected against free riders; otherwise one is simply doing others’ bidding and subsidizing their R&D… In short, innovation without protection is simply a form of philanthropy!

Distorting Innovation: Fixed Patent Terms and Underinvestment in Long-term Research

Drugs for the treatment of late-stage cancers are less expensive to develop, in part because late-stage drugs extend patients’ lives for a shorter period of time such that clinical trials are concluded more quickly. This means that such drugs require less time to research, develop, test and bring to market than drugs that treat earlier stage cancers, providing the innovator with a longer effective patent life. In essence, less research and development investment is directed toward drugs that treat patient groups requiring lengthy clinical trials, those with longer commercialization lags… It’s worthwhile to ask whether a ‘one-size-fits-all’ patent policy is optimal. How we can think creatively about patent protection in an effort to incentivize the innovation we want and push the frontiers of modern medicine.

What ‘The Economist’ Doesn’t Get About Patents

In what can only be characterized as a bizarre, rambling, and intellectually dishonest article, ‘The Economist’ has inexplicably taken the position that patents are not necessary for innovation. The complexity of innovation today and the required investment necessary to innovate, as well as the highly speculative nature of innovation, seems lost on the author. It is surprising, and disappointing, that a publication like The Economist would turn a blind-eye to the underlying financial realities of innovation. Truthfully, The Economist owes its readers a sincere apology for this entire article. Some could, and probably should, call into question the motivations for building an anti-patent argument upon such a rotten foundation.

Exclusive Interview with Jaime Siegel of Acacia Research

Siegel: “I think this effort to destroy the value of intellectual property is a bigger wet towel on innovation. When startup companies, after they get their angel investing, go out to try and raise funds on round Bs and round Cs, one of the things that investors look at is whether or not that company has an innovation that is different and protectable so that the investors know that number one there is something in there that’s protectable so that they can protect their investment. And when companies, small companies that make the investment into intellectual property portfolio development it sends a signal, two signals. It sends a signal that, number one, they’re progressive enough and smart enough to think about protecting their innovation. And, number two, it provides collateral for the investments that the investors are making into the company. So if the company were to not be successful in its business, they would have this asset of an IP portfolio sitting there that could still be sold or otherwise monetized to help the investors recoup their investments.”