This is the 21st consecutive year when IBM is on top of the patent records. This year 7534 patents were granted to IBM, approximately 20 patents per day. Since, 1993 IBM has maintained this record. Graph below shows how many patents granted to the king since 2010.
Who do you think is working so hard there?
Only Inventors?
No, they are not working alone.
Getting a patent depends not only on inventor but also on Patent Engineer. They both share the burden equally.
How?
Lets see what patent engineers have done to reach the goal:
- Patent Engineers created applications & IBM parallel space app download reached a score of 81,500 patents
- These Engineers searched for old researches as copying someone’s research is a crime & hence protected IBM from court cases
- With their technical expertise (Engineering) they reached a target of 20 patents per day
- Analysis & research skills of Patent Engineers made them stand out of the crowd
- Freedom to operate: Important part of searching. Engineers checked whether they have freedom to launch their product in India, to save IBM from fines & penalties.
Why do you think Patent Engineers are important in IBM?
IBM is working on several projects like:
- Artificial Intelligence
- GPS
- Web data gathering
- Cloud computing
- Access restriction on mobile applications
Inventors of IBM are already handling these projects. They are busy enough & they can’t learn how to draft application. Drafting patent application and writing research draft are two really different tasks.
Drafting: In India software is not patentable. So, you’ve to make sure that you draft your application in which device improvement is claimed. Your patent can be rejected easily in you didn’t demonstrate the device improvement.
Now, IBM needs people other than inventors who can understand the invention equally & can draft it for filing in government office (Patent office).
If invention is not drafted properly the government authorities might reject it.
Why application should be protected?
New invention is always on target of competitors. You need to protect that, otherwise, competitor may steal it and you will loose that economic asset of company.
Local vendors can copy your invention and they can sell it at cheaper prices. This might harm your business.
Protection will help you in fining case against them & they will be liable for penalty. This penalty can be in million dollars also.
Do they have any separate wing for patent engineers?
Yes. Patent Engineers play a crucial role in developing inventions. So, they have developed Patent IBM centre for Engineers.
Not only IBM, but also several other key players like Sony, DELL, Microsoft, Apple have IP cells or units to protect Patents.
Patent Engineers are becoming active part of the economy now. Not only IBM but also other key players are focusing on increasing the patents team because creating an invention is important but to protect them is necessity.
