This document discusses challenges around patents, intellectual property, and patent trolls as it relates to VRM (Vendor Relationship Management). It notes that large tech companies obtain many patents through their legal teams, and that patents can bolster startup valuations but also allow failed companies to assert patent claims. The document outlines technical, legal, social, usability, business model, and other challenges around VRM and sharing user data and controls. It suggests building on cloud platforms or a personal cloud and obtaining patents for defense. It also discusses challenges around large company vs. startup legal battles and dealing with patent trolls.

1. Patent Trolls gonna Kill
VRM?
#iiw16 2013

2. • Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Facebook
amongst others have legal teams meet staff
engineers to create patents.
• VCs encourage patents to bolster valuation.
• Failed tech business often have no assets
other than patented IP.
• Patents support operating businesses in
today’s climate
Perspective

3. Patent definition
• The word patent originates from the Latin
patere, which means "to lay open”
• In modern usage, the term patent usually
refers to the right granted to anyone who
invents any new, useful, and non-obvious
process, machine, article of manufacture, or
composition of matter.

4. Beyond marketing
Give more control to consumers
Give more "VRM" control to consumers so as to get more, better
quality data from them about their experiences and intentions.

5. Challenges and IP?
• Technical challenges - developing and more
importantly implementing open standards
• Legal challenges – with a core group of policy and
legal talent gathering to develop new paradigms and
trust frameworks.
• Social challenges – considering technologies, tools
and services that are being developed will impact social
interactions.

6. Challenges and IP?
• Usability challenges - How are user interfaces created
so that people can navigate different identities and
understand their data?
• Business model challenges – How can we create a
thriving network of businesses and services that are in
alignment with the end users interests and needs?

7. Challenges and IP?
• Interoperability challenges - How do we follow and
share with our friends and businesses when we are on
different platforms? – How can credentials created by
one organization be used by another company?
• Device, server, cloud challenges - Where is the right
place to host data? and services and how do they work
with the whole range of places and devices?
• NSTIC challenges - http://www.idecosystem.org

8. Challenges and IP?
• Notion of sharing controls
o Specific user interaction controls
o Granular selective sharing controls
• Search more than seven million U.S. patents.
o www.google.com/patents

9. IP for common repo's
Create a common repository of data
elements at a single fixed location (using
patented design for registering
granularimmutable informational objects)
tobe accessed by thirdparties.
Cloud database
Cloudant
(CouchDB), Azur
e (SQL server)
SAP (HANA)
API

10. IP Defense
• Build on a cloud platform?
o GCE?
o AWS?
o Azure?
o Force.com?
• Build on a personal cloud platform?
o Respect?
o Kynetx?
• License patents?
o Pay me now or pay me more later

11. Legal defense
• Goliaths vs. Startups
o Big company legal teams are huge
o Timing issues
o Assertion
o Counter
• Patent trolls
o The enemy of my enemy is my friend (enemy mine)
• Patent portfolios
o Intellectual ventures
o Startup portfolio

12. Q&A
Clive Boulton
@iC
about.me/cliveboulton
Thank you