IBM’s New Patent on Business Meetings!

Your author just came across an excellent note by Gene Quinn at IP Watchdog, where he describes in detail a new patent application submitted by IBM that purports to cover methods related to setting dates and times for business meetings.  (Your author is surprised that IBM did not file this as a continuation-in-part to its pending application on the rotation of the earth!)  Mr. Quinn’s point in highlighting this application is to underscore the “hypocrisy” of IBM and its executives in their recent complaining to Congress about the questionable quality of most patent applications submitted to the PTO.   However, your author thinks this application might very well be the most valuable patent application ever made – after all, I may be able to get out of yet another needless business meeting just by telling my peers that I do not want to infringe on IBM’s patent!

Mr. Quinn’s note may be found at http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2009/05/11/ibm-seeks-patent-on-time-management-of-meetings/id=3367/.

Comments

[Dale B. Halling]

I looked up the patent publication by IBM on the USPTO’s website and the only publication I found for IBM and “business meeting” is Pub. No. 20080034435, titled “Methods and arrangements for detecting and managing viewability of screens, windows and like media.” A closer review of this application, assuming this is the patent application Mr. Gene Quinn is talking about, shows that the application is related to web meeting software and privacy. The patent application is not about a “method of conducting a business meeting.

Unfortunately, this sort of inaccuracy is common in the patent debate. Broad based comments are made about a patent, but no one takes the time to read the patent or the claims and determine if they are really as broad as reported. Based on my quick review of the patent publication I cannot say that the claims are novel and nonobvious, but I can state that the patent application is directed to a real problem and the invention uses real technology to solve the problem.

This sort of inaccurate reporting of patents has led to bad patent policy and is driving the present “patent reform” debate. The patent system in the US has been neutered over the last decade in part because of inaccurate reporting like this. The anti-patent crowd has held sway in this country for at least a decade and during this time innovation in the US has ground to halt as has economic growth.

Dale B. Halling