Giant Patent Troll Intellectual Ventures Does 'Study' To Show How Much Everyone Loves Patents

from the a-lot-or-even-more? dept

Thu, May 2nd 2013 3:25pm — Mike Masnick

Apparently Intellectual Ventures' attempts to improve its dismal reputation as the worlds largest, most obnoxious patent troll don't seem to involve finding a legitimate business to be in, or actually doing something to help the world, but rather to ask some execs some loaded questions to produce a study pretending that execs really love patents and think they're great for innovation. The thing is, the study also shows that the execs they asked are somewhat clueless about patents or how they're being abused today.

It's no surprise that if you ask someone who doesn't deal with patents regularly, or hasn't seen how trolls like Intellectual Ventures and their smaller brethren operate, it's no surprise that they would say that patents are a good thing and that they help innovation. That's the story that is constantly drilled into people's heads over and over again. It's only when you're actually dealing with the system that you realize how broken it is. Yet, IV seems thrilled to point out that their study asked the clueless execs, and those clueless execs said, for the most part, that they liked patents.

When asked, 75% of these executives say they are the primary decision makers regarding patents, yet only 24% consider themselves very informed on the topic. Less than half the executives we surveyed had heard of patent licensing companies (which were described in the blind survey as “a company that purchases patents and licenses them to companies who have existing products in the market”). Even fewer had heard of IP intermediaries (described in the blind survey as a “company that navigates/facilitates patent transactions within the IP market”). An average of 6.5% of the C-suite reported direct experience working with the IP industry in the past three years.

Yeah. See, next time why not ask them something a bit more accurate, like how they feel about "companies who go out and buy weak, broad patents on obvious things, and then use them to demand cash from companies actually competing in the market?" Or, rather than call them "patent licensing companies" call them by what everyone knows them as: patent trolls.

Then, I'd imagine the results would be a lot more accurate. The point, of course, is that this kind of survey is useless. Many people who don't use the patent system just assume that it must be a good thing. It's as they learn about the realities of the system that they grow so concerned. Also, it's a little unclear from the details mentioned whether or not the organization doing the study said upfront that Intellectual Ventures was sponsoring the study. Because, you know, if the local gang leader sent one of his thugs around to ask you how much you liked how the neighborhood was run, you might answer nicely to avoid getting beaten up.

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Companies: intellectual ventures

22 Comments

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Atkray (profile), 2 May 2013 @ 2:22pm

I couldn't figure out how they got enough " C-suite" executives to respond since this is a group that in general tries to stay busy being productive and doesn't have time for surveys.

200+ C-suite executives (CEO, CFO, CTO) surveyed
Leaders of U.S. companies with 25 to 1,000 employees
More than 30 industries represented

Looks like they contacted a few of their golfing buddies to pass out the survey in their offices.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 May 2013 @ 3:36pm

I imagine the questioner approaching an executive with a herd of lawyers in tail, ready to drop a patent lawsuit at the first hint of disapproval.
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CK20XX, 2 May 2013 @ 3:47pm

Reminds me of the first episode of Gravity Falls, where a random guy picks up a note that Mabel left for him. It says:

Do you like me?
[ ] Yes
[ ] Definitely
[ ] Absolutely!!!

Mabel: "I rigged it!"
Dipper: "Mabel, I know you're going through your whole Boy Crazy phase, but I think you're kinda overdoing it with the crazy part."
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Anonymous Coward, 2 May 2013 @ 3:53pm

So the way to disprove this survey is via anecdotes and conclusory statements? Not convincing, Mike. I'm still waiting for you to say something critical about that study that found patent "trolls" cost us $29B per year. Remember when you touted that study as gospel truth and were completely uncritical of its methodology? Good times. No double standards with you. You're all about evidence and truth. Totally.
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- AC Unknown, 2 May 2013 @ 4:15pm
  
  Re:
  Hey Troll, how about you say something critical of the MPAA and RIAA constantly whining about how the industries they represent are "dying", when they're actually thriving?
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  - Anonymous Coward, 2 May 2013 @ 5:08pm
    
    Re: Re:
    You get the idea that AJ's wife is named Ronald J. Riley?
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    Anonymous Coward, 2 May 2013 @ 8:36pm
    
    Re: Re:
    yes, thriving, providing us with all those nice products we want to buy and use, all with patents !!!
    
    we get lots of good things to use, we are happy, the companies making the good things we like to use are happy.
    
    no one here has been able to come up with a single example of where or how patents have stopped the pace of technological advancement, because we all know that technology is advancing at an amazing pace..
    
    at an amazing pace WITH PATENTS !!!.
    
    the last 50 years has heralded an explosion of technological advancements, which everyone benefits from.
    
    Yet Masnick (Mick the Nick) seems to think we are still using valve radio's, black and white TV, Edison Wax rolls, 8-track cassettes.
    
    Bank clerks with adding machines, slide rules, party line telephones with plug board exchanges and 'operators' steam engines.
    
    But no, with patents ensuring the advancement of progress, the past 50 years or so have resulted in the largest explosion of technology advancement mankind has ever seen.
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    - Anonymous Coward, 3 May 2013 @ 4:35am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      Human beings are still getting born with diseases. Let's inject all human beings with diseases. That'll go over really well. Let's start with you!
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    - Anonymous Coward, 3 May 2013 @ 7:48am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      no one here has been able to come up with a single example of where or how patents have stopped the pace of technological advancement...
      
      I stopped reading there. You really don't read much do you?
      
      Patent trolls demand money from companies who are innovating. Said company is forced to pay money and can't stay in business. Patent stopped innovation.
      
      It's not just small companies either. Apple had an injunction in preventing Samsung from importing it's new cellphone because of bogus patents (which have since been thrown out).
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Anonymous Coward, 2 May 2013 @ 6:01pm

"execs really love patents and think they're great for innovation"

A bit off the mark associating the above with the linked webpage from IV's site since the webpage does not at all suggest this to be the case.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 May 2013 @ 6:27pm

Next up Intellectual Ventures should do studies on the Pope's faith and what bears do in the woods.
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- Anonymous Coward, 2 May 2013 @ 11:50pm
  
  Re:
  Then they would likely be impartial to the result as opposed to existing because of one of the answers! I might actually trust that study!
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Steph Kennedy, IPTT, 2 May 2013 @ 6:46pm

I asked these guys on twitter how many of the 70% of responders were IV investors. They tweeted back:

@IVinvents 29 Apr
(...part 2 @CandidCanon) But we assume none, judging by respondent profile. Most led companies w/ >1K employees & >$100M in annual revenue.

‏@IVinvents 29 Apr
Thanks @CandidCanon. Really �twas a serious response. With a blind survey, we don�t know if investors participated (part 1)...

Evidently it was a blind study. Meaning that the people who took it were blind to what IV really does.

Just sayin',

IPTT
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Anonymous Coward, 2 May 2013 @ 8:14pm

Sounds like you Mick the Nick
"don't seem to involve finding a legitimate business to be in, or actually doing something to help the world,"

when are you going to actually do something legitimate and helpful ??
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- That One Guy (profile), 2 May 2013 @ 9:00pm
  
  Re: Sounds like you Mick the Nick
  What are you talking about, his site has enabled you to make a colossal fool of yourself, how is that not helpful?
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Anonymous Coward, 2 May 2013 @ 8:21pm

"execs really love patents and think they're great for innovation"

funny thing is it's now 2013 What is it people don't have now technologically that you think we might of had if there were no patents ?

list form will be fine..

they are probably right, everyone loves the technology we have now, technology seem to progress at an amazing pace, we are presented with a huge range of idea's and technologies and advancements, especially in the last 50 years.

All the time, with patents..

how much has computer technology progressed in the last 50 years !! for example..

Seems to most people the progress is occurring at an amazing pace, all with patents !!

Go figure.

what are we missing because of patents again ?
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Anonymous Coward, 2 May 2013 @ 8:41pm

"execs really love patents and think they're great for innovation"

care to provide some examples to support that statement please Mick the Nick ?

and an explanation as to how that has denied us the benefits of said technology advancements ??
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Anonymous Coward, 2 May 2013 @ 8:47pm

"Many people who don't use the patent system just assume that it must be a good thing. "

we all use patents, all the time, all the technology we enjoy we do so because someone invented it and developed it into a useful commercial product.

they can do that because of patents, we have patents and we also have massive advancements in technology.

People don't 'use' patents, they use the products that are the result of patents ALL THE TIME..

You would not be here, on the internet, with an advanced computer (that would be a super computer a few years ago) without the benefit of patents and the advancement of technology that patents have enabled.

again, what is it you have not got now, that you NEED that you have not got because of patents ??

some examples of how patents have stifled technology advancements, in an age of massive technology progress if you please.

otherwise, (as usuall) you are just talking through your ass.
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- Automatic Grammatizator, 2 May 2013 @ 10:39pm
  
  Re:
  Dude, have you taken a moment to read how rambling and incoherent your posts are? They're so made, you're giving me flashbacks of Mega Man X6.
  
  AC: "JUSDIE MIIIIIIILKE!"
  Mike: "His mind is gone."
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  - Automatic Grammatizator, 2 May 2013 @ 10:49pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Crud, I meant "bad", not "made". The AC's incoherence is infectious like the flu, especially when it mingles with memories of badly translated games.
    
    But let this be a lesson to all of you. Being pro-patent turns you into a gibbering buffoon, as we have witnessed here today, so just say "no" to patents.
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- Anonymous Coward, 2 May 2013 @ 11:01pm
  
  Re:
  ...You've seriously never heard of the "patent thicket" for smartphones and tablets?
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  - Anonymous Coward, 3 May 2013 @ 4:36am
    
    Re: Re:
    darryl has yet to get out of that solar panel thicket that is his brain. Or it could be earwax. It's hard to tell from his lack of higher function.
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