Continuos Innovation: Revised

As part of an upcoming e-book for my Digital Civilization Class, I have been revising and synthesizing some of the ideas I've posted about on this blog. The meat of my contribution to the chapter on Intellectual Property and Creative Commons has to do with the idea of continuous innovation. The idea is that companies today should worry less about patents and patent infringement by copycats, and more about continuous innovation: bringing new ideas to the table and leaving their copycats in the dust. I first got this idea from Jared Smith, my manager while I worked as a software engineer at Qualtrics, Inc. The idea stuck with me, and I think its a great solution to going around the broken patent system instead of waiting for it to fix itself. Here's my revised section on the matter:

Patent Law Reform: Continuous Innovation

In the end, there are just too many problems with the patent system. So many people want information to be liberated, and to be done with the patent system altogether. That's not necessarily a good idea. We need something to protect the small guys from the big guys. If I go start a company selling some cool new product or invention, what's to stop some large company from taking my idea and stomping all over me, selling my product for less than I can and running me out of business? And let's say someday I did become big. Does that mean I lose all protection from any further innovations I create? As in other large companies are free to take my product and make it an essentially worthless product, selling it for cost just so I don't get the profits? Or maybe some little guy has some contacts in China that can make essentially the same product (though a crappier version), but sell it for a quarter my price. What protections should I be afforded then?

Some people might say that if other companies can draw customers away from you with a twin product, that's just how the market works. Others want protection and rights to their own inventions. Even if other companies violate patents, enforcing patents is messy. Simply viewing the countless legal battles over patents is a clear indication that the system is broken. Some form of patent law and protection is important, but waiting for patent reformation is like waiting for the US to pay off its national debt. It’s not going to happen anytime soon.

This is why the citizens of the digital world must learn to go around the mountain that is the broken patent system. This takes two forms. First, consumers need to let the giant media and tech companies know how they feel about their pointless patent disputes. Patent trolls should be digitally hazed until they leave others alone and go get a real job. Consumers should send a clear message to other companies like Apple and Samsung that their patent battles are not ok. They need to lay aside their differences and return to focusing all their efforts on innovating and bringing great new products to the market.

This brings up the second form of going around the mountain. Companies need to stop worrying about their competitors and others violating their precious patents. Instead, they should rely on the idea of continuous innovation. I learned this best while I was working as a software engineering intern at Qualtrics. They have several copycat competitors, but instead of whining about it and calling foul, they simply continue to innovate, bring more new and awesome features to the table, and always striving to innovate ahead of the competition. I think their client page is a testament to the great job they're doing.

So that's the best answer. We still need to design the system to protect against big company bullies, but if companies relied on continuous innovation to justify their existence, and left their copycats in the dust, it would be a great start. Consumers can encourage this by acting accordingly in the market, rewarding the innovators and shunning the copycats. As companies cater to the consumer, ditch their patent battles and start competing with each other, the consumer will ultimately win. Competition in the same market-space is always great for the consumer because it drives prices down and brings innovation out. And that's how companies in America and America itself will continue to succeed: by bringing the best ideas to the table and letting the market respond.