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View Full Version : Has anyone given away their patent "for the betterment of mankind"?



Frederick Skelly
07-18-2015, 9:19 PM
The world has been nuts lately. The news always seems to get worse. So how about a thread about people helping others? The sawstop licencing thread got me wondering. Do any of you have examples where a person or company literally gave away a valuable patent to better the world? For example, a drug company that decided to make its patent available to everyone to help lower the cost of a particular treatment?

Fred

Mel Fulks
07-18-2015, 9:25 PM
Only one I can think of right off is Dr. Salk.

Robert LaPlaca
07-18-2015, 9:34 PM
Well one that comes to mind is Volvo, they gave away the patent for the three point safety belt..Volvo felt the patent was too important for the good of mankind. Kind of cool really, but It never enticed me to purchase a Volvo..

Jason Beam
07-18-2015, 9:41 PM
Pretty sure Nikola Tesla -- though, i may be repeating internet folklore, there.

Mike Henderson
07-18-2015, 10:18 PM
While not a patent, Google has given away quite a bit of software, Android being the most notable. Of course, there's a reason they want other companies to use their software.

I'm heard of companies who license their patent for very little or nothing. But you still have to sign an agreement with them. There are other restrictions on the use of the patented material, even if you don't pay for it. Often they do that to help make their technology the de facto "standard".

Also, many customers will not purchase a product unless there's a "second source". Once a chip (for example) is designed into a product it's expensive to switch to another chip and go through the testing and certification again. So the company holding the patent will often license another company (sometimes at little or no cost) to make the same chip and provide a "second source".

Mike

Ryan Mooney
07-18-2015, 10:28 PM
More recently: http://www.forbes.com/sites/investor/2014/06/13/tesla-giving-away-its-patents-makes-sense/
Lines up somewhat with Mike's comment on making things the de-facto standard.

Mike Henderson
07-18-2015, 10:34 PM
More recently: http://www.forbes.com/sites/investor/2014/06/13/tesla-giving-away-its-patents-makes-sense/
Lines up somewhat with Mike's comment on making things the de-facto standard.
I would not be surprised if one requirement of Tesla's grant of their patents is that you cannot then turn around and assert your patents against them.

Mike

Ryan Mooney
07-18-2015, 11:09 PM
I would not be surprised if one requirement of Tesla's grant of their patents is that you cannot then turn around and assert your patents against them.

Mike

You may well be correct..
“Tesla will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology,” Musk wrote in a post entitled “All Our Patent Are Belong to You,”
https://gigaom.com/2014/06/14/what-elon-musk-did-and-did-not-do-when-he-opened-teslas-patents/

Also its worth noting that they didn't open ALL their patents, I'd bet a small amount that the remaining ones would offer some juicy licensing opportunities especially given Tesla's move into large scale battery manufacturing..

Interesting link from that article: http://www.google.com/patents/opnpledge/faq/#toc-conferment "Google is therefore pledging the free use of certain of its patents in connection with Free or Open Source Software on the following terms: ... <pages of legalese I don't fully understand>"

More apropos to your assertion - this is certainly what some tech companies have decided to do.
https://gigaom.com/2012/04/17/twitter-promotes-patent-peace-with-innovators-agreement/ "Under the terms of the agreement, Twitter will promise to only use the patents for defensive purposes — asserting infringement claims only if it is sued first:" - which is kind of interesting since it states openly what some folks have more just muttered under their breath.

Other car companies are also getting into the game. http://www.businessinsider.com/like-tesla-toyota-is-now-giving-away-its-patents-2015-1

paul cottingham
07-19-2015, 2:45 AM
A great deal of Open Source software is basically given away for the good of mankind. One of the best examples I can think of is Asterisk the open source PBX. He could have closed source it and made a killing off of it, instead, he published it under an open license, people can use it for free in any context. Ironically, he is still making a good living off of it anyways, through hardware sales and packaging.

Bradley Gray
07-19-2015, 8:45 AM
There's a book by Chris Anderson, former editor of Wired mag, called Makers. This book describes a new business model embracing open source using Creative Commons (https://creativecommons.org/tag/open-source) registration instead of patents, a forum like this one to generate continuous improvement as well as advertizing and no litigation.

There are several flavors of the Creative Commons registration but basically use is licensed as long as all improvements remain open source. Resources directed at improvement instead of lawsuits - what's not to like?

David Ragan
07-19-2015, 12:04 PM
This is a great question, but the corporations that give away software-I always thought it made us hostage. Maybe not. I don't know enough about it to back that up.

But, there was a PBS program about a mathematician in the 1800s in England that tried to figure out if it is possible to be altruistic without any type of positive benefit whatsoever. He went to all kinds of extreme measures with his poverty, serving others, and living conditions.

After spending the majority of his life in that endeavor, he came away, old, broken down, disease-ridden from all the stress and squalid conditions, and the answer was No, it is not possible to be 100% altruistic.

Rich Enders
07-19-2015, 3:47 PM
The major polymer manufacturers surround their products with patents, and then provide their customers free license under the patents. Sort of a self-serving altruism.

fred marcuson
07-19-2015, 4:42 PM
pretty sure the patent on turn signals on cars was given away ...

David Ragan
07-19-2015, 4:59 PM
OK, the guy was an American, and he committed suicide in 1975.

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/altruistic-equations-that-killed-a-good-man-1358399.html

George Price.

paul cottingham
07-19-2015, 7:42 PM
This is a great question, but the corporations that give away software-I always thought it made us hostage. Maybe not. I don't know enough about it to back that up.

But, there was a PBS program about a mathematician in the 1800s in England that tried to figure out if it is possible to be altruistic without any type of positive benefit whatsoever. He went to all kinds of extreme measures with his poverty, serving others, and living conditions.

After spending the majority of his life in that endeavor, he came away, old, broken down, disease-ridden from all the stress and squalid conditions, and the answer was No, it is not possible to be 100% altruistic.

Nope. I know several open source software developers, and have met and spoken to the developer of Asterix. Most develop open source as a matter of principle. The fellow who wrote qmail and djbdns has stated that he writes open source because he believes it's more secure.

dennis thompson
07-19-2015, 7:58 PM
I don't know of any drug company that has given away a patent but according to ABC news each of the bigger drug companies gives away more that $200 million in drugs each year.

Brian Elfert
07-19-2015, 8:49 PM
I don't know of any drug company that has given away a patent but according to ABC news each of the bigger drug companies gives away more that $200 million in drugs each year.

Maybe if they charged similar prices to what they charge outside of the USA then they wouldn't have to give away expensive drugs to low income patients here in the USA.

dennis thompson
07-20-2015, 5:50 AM
Maybe if they charged similar prices to what they charge outside of the USA then they wouldn't have to give away expensive drugs to low income patients here in the USA.
I am not surprised at this remark but disappointed. The cost of bringing a new drug to market can be in the billions. A few years ago Pfizer was working on a follow up drug to Lipitor, they spent over $800 million on it, found it to have very significant side effects and had to shut it down. Yes, drugs in the U.S. are more expensive than other places but the drugs invented with the R&D have saved many lives, just do a little research on Lipitor . In 2012 alone both Roche and Pfizer spent over $9 billion each on R& D!
As the politicians say...full disclosure, I worked for the company that invented Lipitor (Warner Lambert)

David Ragan
07-20-2015, 11:10 AM
I am not surprised at this remark but disappointed. The cost of bringing a new drug to market can be in the billions. A few years ago Pfizer was working on a follow up drug to Lipitor, they spent over $800 million on it, found it to have very significant side effects and had to shut it down. Yes, drugs in the U.S. are more expensive than other places but the drugs invented with the R&D have saved many lives, just do a little research on Lipitor . In 2012 alone both Roche and Pfizer spent over $9 billion each on R& D!
As the politicians say...full disclosure, I worked for the company that invented Lipitor (Warner Lambert)

Hi Dennis, several years ago, I was into 'Structure Activity Relationships' (SAR) with the molecules. Very interesting side game. The idea is that you isolate a molecule, like, from nature, that has some use activity, look @ the molecule, and see what part of it has the desirable effect (the yeast that grows on red rice, or something like that), and what part of the molecule has adverse biological effects. You know, biochemistry, amine groups, acetyl side chains, L and D isomers, etc

I figured, hey, the Pharma Companies, take all these cogeners, and engineer them to where the molecules are more efficacious without the adverse side effects.

The cynical part of me figures that Big Pharma releases them in a certain order so that there is always something better waiting in the R&D wing.

The above is probably not true, that's just me on a bad day being cynical :eek:

I'm not looking for a debate here.......'just saying':)


My standard disclaimer: These are my personal views, not necessarily those of my employer.

Karl Andersson
07-21-2015, 7:44 AM
For what it's worth, Nikola Tesla never gave away his patents, although he did claim numerous ones were infringed upon or stolen during his lifetime. According to fans and conspiracy hobbyists, (and just about all the Serb nation), his really earth-shattering (literally) notes, inventions, and research were taken by the FBI never to be seen again by anyone but THEM. Being married to a Serb, I have all kinds of Tesla books and anecdotes...stranger than fiction.

Tesla Automotive, on the other hand, did release all their patents in an open-source attempt to boost electronic vehicle technology advances- not that I could understand their patent information well enough to light a bulb. I'm not aware of anyone else who gave up their active rights vs. people who just didn't seek a patent in the first place.
Karl

Brian Deakin
07-21-2015, 1:17 PM
Sir Timothy John "Tim" Berners-Lee gave the world the internet
http://webfoundation.org/about/sir-tim-berners-lee/


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-twBP2VCV0

Robert LaPlaca
07-21-2015, 1:46 PM
Sir Timothy John "Tim" Berners-Lee gave the world the internet
http://webfoundation.org/about/sir-tim-berners-lee/


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee


(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-twBP2VCV0

Not so sure about that, might want to check out Vint Cerf, Donald Davies and Bob Kahn, they are generally regarded as the fathers of the Internet..

David Ragan
07-21-2015, 1:48 PM
I thought Al Gore did. Oops. Is that political?

Mike Henderson
07-21-2015, 1:49 PM
Sir Timothy John "Tim" Berners-Lee gave the world the internet
http://webfoundation.org/about/sir-tim-berners-lee/


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-twBP2VCV0
Tim Berners-Lee developed the concept of the World Wide Web, not the Internet. The World Wide Web uses the Internet.

Mike