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Designing Around Patents is an Underappreciated Benefit of the Patent Systemĭesigning around patent claims is prevalent but not often appreciated as a means by which patents promote economic development through competition. When the Edison patent was enforced, competitors were able to use Edison’s basic teaching while circumventing the patent by designing around the patent claims to avoid infringement. Supreme Court, as it acknowledged the role of “the incremental innovator designing around the claims, yet seeking to capture as much as is permissible of the patented advance.” Warner-Jenkinson Co. How then, despite the enforcement actions, injunctions, and refusal to license, were the competitive market activities described in (1) – (5) above possible? The answer lies in “design around:” the important feature of our patent system recognized by the U.S. Edison did not invent the electric lamp his pioneering invention claimed in the `898 patent did, however, unlock the field of commercial electric lighting.Īfter 1882, all incandescent lamp manufacturers followed Edison’s teaching. With this pioneering recognition, Edison experimented with over 6,000 filament compositions, ultimately converging on the use of carbonized bamboo fibers that he patented in U.S.
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Edison was the first to recognize the commercial importance of illuminants made of extremely thin carbon filaments enclosed in near-perfect vacuum, resulting in over 1,000 hours of operation. Contrary to historical folklore, Edison did not invent the electric lamp-decades before him, others had produced electric incandescent lamps, but employing low resistance, thick carbon illuminants, which lasted only several hours of operation. His patent covered the electric incandescent lamp with extremely thin carbon filament of high electrical resistance, enclosed in a single glass globe sealed under near-perfect vacuum, as described in U.S. This indeed happened under our patent system-in the previously-unrecognized case of Thomas A. (5) the fundamental technology gains widespread use in consumer households and ushers-in the electrical revolution. (4) the patent holder loses market share down to less than 50% and (3) enforcement of the patent holder’s exclusive right fails to make it a “price maker” - it becomes a “price follower,” reducing its product prices three times as product unit prices in the market fall precipitously by two-thirds (2) total annual product unit sales in the market doubles (1) successful patent enforcement not only fails to deter market participants, but the number of active manufacturers of the product doubles What happens next during the patent enforcement period would defy all conventional anti-patent narratives: Commanding 50% market share in unit sales of the patented product, the patent holder prevails in patent infringement suits obtaining court injunctions against all major rivals and maintaining a strict no-licensing policy.
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It failed.įact 6 There is a test tube at the Henry Ford Museum that holds his last breath, or a tube of air sealed in the room after his death.įact 7 He told a magazine in 1920 he was designing a phone to communicate with the dead, but later admitted it was a joke.įact 8 He has received a number of awards, including the induction into the New Jersey Hall of Fame and the Entrepreneur Walk of Fame.įact 9 His second wife said in an interview in 1930 that Edison always ate correctly and have breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday.įact 10 He admitted his favorite movie was "The Birth of a Nation" and his favorite movie stars were Mary Pickford and Clara Bow.Would you believe the following scenario could happen under our patent system? An inventor of a fundamental technology receives a patent less than three months after filing despite the public disclosure of the patent, industry contemporaries fail to appreciate the invention’s significance for nearly two years once appreciated, widespread adoption and infringement of the patent ensues. Fact 1 He only attended school for three months after overhearing his teach refer to him as a rotten egg.įact 2 He often attributed his hearing impairment to incidents involving a train and train conductor, rather than his untreated ear infections and scarlet fever as a child.įact 3 Edison was married twice, having three children with his first wife and three children with his second.įact 4 His invention of the phonograph was almost magical to the public, making him known as "The Wizard of Menlo Park".įact 5 In 1922 he published a proposal titled "A Proposed Amendment to the Federal Reserve Banking System", where interest-free currency could be issued.