Edward Tufte Is Coming To Town

Edward Tufte returns to Washington on November 8th, 10th, and 11th to teach his fabulous one day Presenting Data and Information course.  It was one of the best educational investments I've made.  It's worth going just for the books.  After the course you'll never look at data the same way.  It's always an interesting crowd - litigators who need to build compelling evidence presentation, litigation support people who have to translate the litigator's vision into practice, analysts, media people, students, graphic artists, researchers.

It would still be worthwhile for the USPTO to dig down in their budget to find the funds to have Dr. Tufte stop by and see if he can do something about the Patent Office's goofy dashboard that I whined about last year in my Called Edward Tufte post.

A thank you shout-out to the readers who caught the Burger King. v. Wendy's error in last year's post.

Thank You Steve Jobs

Here is one of my favorite Steve Jobs quotes.   We are left to wonder what amazing things were yet to come.


“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”


Steve Jobs, Stamford Commencement Address 2005

We'll Miss You Michael Hart

By Michael Bowman

Michael S. Hart passed away on September 6, 2011. Hart invented ebooks, and founded Project Gutenberg. According to his obituary on the Project Gutenberg page,

"He had been granted access to significant computing power at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. On July 4 1971, after being inspired by a free printed copy of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, he decided to type the text into a computer, and to transmit it to other users on the computer network. From this beginning, the digitization and distribution of literature was to be Hart's life's work, spanning over 40 years." (http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Michael_S._Hart)

Project Gutenberg houses more than 36,000 ebooks in the public domain.  I have enjoyed a number of them.

Hart’s invention, in recent years, has transformed the publishing world, providing the reading public access to many new authors, and spurring new inventions such as the Nook, Kindle, iPad, and fostering new file formats for the display of written content (e.g., PDF, epub, lit, Mobipocket, Plucker, TealDoc, etc.). Could he have foreseen these subsequent innovations when he decide to post an electronic version of the Declaration of Independence?

Not to detract from Hart’s invention, there was someone else who did envision this technology prior to Hart.  Arthur C. Clarke, a polymath, author, and visionary. Perhaps like I did, you read Clarke’s “2001: A Space Odyssey”, and saw Stanley Kubrick’s movie. Maybe you remember this passage:

"When he tired of official reports and memoranda and minutes, he would plug his foolscap-sized Newspad into the ship's information circuit and scan the latest reports from Earth. One by one he would conjure up the world's major electronic papers ... Switching to the display unit's short-term memory, he would hold the front page while he quickly searched the headlines and noted the items that interested him. ... the postage-stamp-sized rectangle would expand until it neatly filled the screen and he could read it with comfort. When he had finished, he would flash back to the complete page and select a new subject for detailed examination. Floyd sometimes wondered if the Newspad, and the fantastic technology behind it, was the last word in man's quest for perfect communications. Here he was, far out in space, speeding away from Earth at thousands of miles an hour, yet in a few milliseconds he could see the headlines of any newspaper he pleased. (That very word "newspaper," of course, was an anachronistic hangover into the age of electronics.) The text was updated automatically on every hour; even if one read only the English versions, one could spend an entire lifetime doing nothing but absorbing the ever-changing flow of information from the news satellites. It was hard to imagine how the system could be improved or made more convenient. But sooner or later, Floyd guessed, it would pass away, to be replaced by something as unimaginable as the Newspad itself would have been to Caxton or Gutenberg."

And in another episode of life imitating art imitating life imitating art...Samsung cited the 2001: A Space Odyssey Newspad as prior art in its ongoing patent war with Apple.  Attached hereto as Exhibit D is a true and correct copy of a still image taken from Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film "2001: A Space Odyssey." In a clip from that film lasting about one minute, two astronauts are eating and at the same time using personal tablet computers. The clip can be downloaded online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ8pQVDyaLo. As with the design claimed by the D’889 Patent, the tablet disclosed in the clip has an overall rectangular shape with a dominant display screen, narrow borders, a predominately flat front surface, a flat back surface (which is evident because the tablets are lying flat on the table's surface), and a thin form factor.

Thank you, Michael Hart, and Arthur C. Clarke.

Zero Net Non-Farm Jobs

By Michael Bowman

The Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its August 2011 jobs report on 9/2/11. BLS reported that there were no (zero, zip, nada) net nonfarm jobs added to the US economy for the month. Pay attention next month when that number is revised (unexpectedly) downward, and the "experts" are once again surprised that the actual employment situation for September is "unexpectedly" worse than their projections.

One of the talking points used to support passage of patent reform in the America Invents Act (which is anticipated to occur this week) is that it will spur job creation.  This seems like a good time to take a look at patents related to hiring.

In the US Patent Classification System, Class 705 is commonly referred to as “Business Methods”. Within this class, subclass 321 addresses employment or hiring. This subclass is new, having been created as part of USPTO reclassification efforts over the past few years. In the class 705 classification schedule, this subclass is indented under subclasses 1.1 (AUTOMATED ELECTRICAL FINANCIAL OR BUSINESS PRACTICE OR MANAGEMENT ARRANGEMENT ) and 320 (Human resources). Subject matter to be classified in 705/321 must also meet the requirements of their respective definitions. Employment or hiring (subclass 705/321) is defined as:

Subject matter drawn to a computerized arrangement for engaging the services of a person or persons for wages or other payment either directly or through a third party.

A search note refers also to subclass 705/8. This subclass was eliminated in Classification Order 1904, released on 2/1/11, and the 705/321 schedule has not yet been updated to reflect this change. Searches should probably also be conducted in the following class 705 subclasses:

7.12     Resource planning, allocation or scheduling for a business operation

7.13     Scheduling, planning, or task assignment for a person or group

7.14     Skill based matching of a person or a group to a task

7.15     Status monitoring or status determination for a person or group

7.16     Schedule adjustment for a person or group

7.17     Staff planning in a project environment

7.18     Calendar-based scheduling for a person or group

7.19     Meeting or appointment

7.21     Task assignment

7.23     Resource planning in a project environment

7.25     Needs based resource requirements planning and analysis

Returning to 705/321, employment or hiring, there are 51 issued patents contained therein as of 9-6-11. We'll take a look at a few of these.

The most recently issued (today) patent in 705/321 is number 8,015,047, “Method, system, and computer program product for employment market statistics generation and analysis”, invented by Foulger, et al. and assigned to Archeron Limited LLC. The original classification (i.e., the highest, most indented classification accepting the subject matter) for this patent is 705/7.14, Skill based matching of a person or a group to a task. Claim 1 states:

A method of generating employment market statistics via a network, comprising:

accessing, by a data processing device, an employment resource via the network, the employment resource comprising data;

matching, by the data processing device, the data to one of a plurality of employment market categories, wherein the matching includes matching resources to the plurality of employment market categories according to a multi-tiered matching strategy;

and updating, by the data processing device, at least one statistical indicator associated with a matched employment market category, wherein the updating comprises calculating a ratio of resumes associated with the matched employment market category to job listings associated with the matched employment market category.

Given the huge number of unemployed, or underemployed, workers in the country, screening of job applicants is a potentially critical bottleneck for human resources departments and hiring managers. Enter patent number 7,778,938, “System and method for screening of job applicants”, issued 8/17/10 to Stimac and assigned to Accuhire.com Corporation. Claim 1 states:

A method for screening a plurality of job applicants comprising:

receiving input to a predetermined plurality of job related profile questions through at least one input device, which are locked to prevent alteration by the job applicant, wherein the plurality of job related profile questions include at least one job-related question regarding a preferred work style for a job applicant, that provides an indication of motivation for the job applicant to perform a particular job, and are targeted to a predetermined job opening from the plurality of job applicants;

providing a numeral score associated with each predetermined response with at least one processor;

and tabulating the total score for all predetermined responses so that each job applicant can be objectively compared to other job applicants based on the received input with the at least one processor for viewing on at least one electronic display.

Here is one that might be familiar to millions of online jobseekers. Patent number 6,370,510, “Employment recruiting system and method using a computer network for posting job openings and which provides for automatic periodic searching of the posted job openings”, was issued April 9, 2002 to McGovern, et al., and assigned to CareerBuilder, Inc. Claim 1 states:

An employment recruiting method, comprising the steps of:

receiving first computer readable data, representing information pertaining to a job, provided by a job seeker user via a computer network;

automatically periodically comparing said first computer readable data to second computer readable data including job opening data representing information pertaining to at least one job opening;

and sending said job seeker user a message informing said job seeker user when said comparing step determines that said first computer readable data matches at least a portion of said second computer readable data, said message including a link to a site at which additional data pertaining to said job opening is accessible by said job seeker user via said link.

The earliest patent found in 705/321 is number 5,117,353, “System for use in a temporary help business”, issued 5/26/92 to Stipanovich, et al. and assigned to Staff-Plus, Inc. The preamble of claim 1 (the entire claim is too long to include here) states:

A system for use in temporary help businesses for screening temporary help employees, testing said temporary help employees for one or more employee skills, recording a time that said temporary help employees are available to perform temporary jobs, receiving and recording job orders from one or more clients requesting temporary help personnel with one or more specified required skills to perform temporary jobs, assigning said temporary help employees to said temporary jobs, recording client comments about said temporary help employees, determining an amount of money due to said temporary help employees for specified periods of time, determining an amount of money due from said clients for temporary help services performed by said temporary help employees for specified periods of time, and reporting trends and patterns of said job orders and temporary help employees applications based on specified input criteria . . .

None of these patents create private sector jobs -- they provide tools for more effective and efficient hiring. Contrary to much of what is reported in the news, and put forth by government, government doesn't create private sector jobs either. Specifically, jobs are created primarily by small employers (less than 500 employees). And as we know, small business owners today are very averse to hiring given the economic and regulatory uncertainty they are facing.

Steve Jobs, Inventor

Today's New York Times tribute to Steve Jobs as revealed in his patents is a fantastic view into the expansive work of a great inventor. A patent stories the way all patent stories should be written.

Thank you Chairman Steve!!!

Patent Urban Legends & Bad Patent Math

New and improved patent urban legends that are popping up all over the place. Patents are hot and every business journalist is checking in with their vision of what's happening in the patentsphere. Newly enhanced patent urban legends are breaking out all over the place. And the numbers are taking on a life of their own without much in the way of fact checking.

The most popular is the Intellectual Ventures (IV) patent count. On May 27, 2009 the Seattle Times reported that IV held 27,000 patents. Two years later on May 31, 2011 an IV press release announcing an intellectual property agreement with Micron says that the IV patent portfolio is more than 30,000 IP assets. (IP assets as in patents or as in licensing agreements or something else - who knows?) By June 28th the count was up to 35,000 patents. There is no way to figure out if these numbers are true or what they are made up of. So, the legend lives. There is no way of knowing if these patents are worth anything, if they can be commercialized, or if they are even valid. All we know is that there are a lot of them.

The latest trending patent urban legend has to do with how many patents cover inventions in the wireless space. During Google's pre-Motorola acquisition, Google's Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer David Drummond noted in a post on Google's Official Blog that "a smart phone might involve more than 250,000 (largely questionable) patent claims." Patent claims - not patents.

Patent 101 - each claim in a patent is an invention. A claim starts with a capital letter and ends with a period.

If the average US patent has 20 claims then Mr. Drummond was throwing around a number of about 12,500 patents (12,500 x 20 = 250,000 right?). Not a small number. But here comes the multiplier effect.

Today, Una Galani and Reynolds Holding's names appear on the byline under an article of titled, "A Murky Patent War" that, "Google cannot identify all the patents that may cover... the Android operating system. The company's chief legal officer says as many as 250,000 patents might apply to a smartphone." Not patent claims as Mr. Drummond said in his post but patents.

So we went from about 12,500 patents, depending on your favorite average number of claims divisor, to 250,000 patents in about 20 days. If we really want to blow it out we can take the Reuters number of 250,000 patents and extend it to the number of inventions (claims) in each patent so the new number of patent claims would be 5 Million patent claims. The legend grows.

But during the 20 days between Mr. Drummond's original posting and the Reuters article, Google bought Motorola mobility which owns 17,500 patents according to the press and another 7,500 patent applications. How will the press factor that in? What will be the new patent math?

The Reuters Breaking Views article adds that "A reasonable approach would be stricter approval of standards." I don't even know what that means? What standards? The standards of patentability which are spelled out in Title 35, Section 101? Standards vs. examination procedures? And who should approve the standards, the patent examiners? The courts? Who's responsible for this stricter approval of standards being recommended?

According to Reuters, Ms. Galani is a Middle East correspondent based in the United Arab Emirates. Maybe she should get a pass on this one since it appears she wrote the first piece on rethinking Libya and oil prices. But Mr. Holding is a lawyer who has what appears to be extensive experience in business and law reporting. Did they check anything before they published this stuff?

This new patent math and uninformed commentarydoesn't help the conversation on what's going on with patents. It fills up a lot of space in the business section but that's about it. The average reader leaves this article thinking how could there be 250,000 patents on a smart phone and that the way to fix the problem is to have stricter approval of standards.

The path to constructive improvements in the patent dialog is information transparency and statements of facts. Intellectual Ventures should cough up the list of all their "IP assets", Mr Drummond should be more specific about his 250,000 patent claims and why he things they are largely questionable, and reporters from Reuters and the folks at the New York Times who distributed the story should get the facts, even if it's hard.

Patent Week and It's Only Wednesday

It's Patent Week at major media outlets.

Here are the highlights so far:

Today - August 17th - Wall Street Journal: Kodak Launches Sale of Patents

Then there's Verizon hoping that the acquisition of Motorola Mobility will calm the patent war with a form of patent detente.

Tuesday - August 16th - New York Times: A Bull Market in Tech Patents

Reuter's Breaking Views has an article called, "Reading Palm" about HP's purchase of Palm and its cache of patents.

Then there's Google's $12.5B Gamble - one of hundreds of articles about Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility

And, "Google's Deal Shakes Up Asia's Mobile Landscape," what happens when you go from being partners to competitors overnight.

On Monday there was the announcement of the Google deal (complete with a video) This was closely followed by an article in the WSJ on how the Google Deal Complicates Microsoft's Strategy.

And it's only Wednesday.

By the end of the week we'll find out that Nathan Mynhold actually owns a million patents instead of the current urban legend of 35,000.

Stay tuned.