[New Podcast] Software Patents

By: Josh Sloat

S2 Episode 1: Software Patents

Protecting your digital innovations
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We're officially kicking off the second season of the Patently Strategic Podcast after taking a brief post-holiday break and in this month's episode, our experts tackle software patents. 

​As Silicon Valley engineer and investor Marc Andreessen famously said, “Software is eating the world”. It is central to so much of today’s innovation and the growth potential is off the charts. Despite rate hikes rattling the market a bit, Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon, and Tesla – these 5 companies, all with software at their core are worth a quarter of the S&P’s entire market cap. It’s possible that Meta Platforms, formerly known as Facebook, could eventually be the sixth such company worth over $1 trillion. In our microcosm of focus, these eye-popping stats are no exception. The AI powered market will grow to $180 billion by 2025. By the end of this year, the Global Edge Computing market will reach $6.72 billion and the global AR and VR market will exceed $209 billion. By 2030, there will be 50 billion IoT devices in use worldwide. That’s 6 devices each for every man, woman and child on this planet – and all of them are powered by software. 

The stakes are high, the value is soaring, and the importance of quality patenting has never been more strategically vital. In this month’s episode, Dr. Ashley Sloat, President and Director of Patent Strategy here at Aurora leads a discussion along with our all star patent panel, digging into:

• The social and legal issues surrounding software patents
• Strategies for how to protect software innovations
• A great overview of IP implementation concerns and strategies as they pertain to outsourcing, code ownership, agile methodologies, and open source use
• An inside look at how Google manages its IP
  

The group also concludes with an insightful brainstorming session around two problems that plague this space. The first is around a new patent type that would help overcome many of the current prosecution and court problems faced by software patents. The second, pulling from adjacent IP law, is a mechanism for small inventors to receive compensation for using their patents, similar to how music copyright royalties are handled.

Ashley is joined today by our always exceptional group of IP experts including:

• David Cohen, Principal at Cohen Sciences
• Shelley Couturier, Patent Strategist and Search Specialist at Aurora
• Amy Fiene, Patent attorney at Vancott and adjunct professor at BYU
• Kristen Hansen, Patent Strategist at Aurora
• David Jackrel, President of Jackrel Consulting 
• Daniel Wright, Partnership Manager and Patent Strategist here at Aurora

Availability

Patently Strategic is available on all major podcasting directories, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts. We're also available on 12 other directories including Stitcher, iHeart Radio, and TuneIn, so you should be able to find us wherever you listen to podcasts.

Topic and guest participant requests

If you’re an agent or attorney and would like to be part of the discussion or an inventor with a topic you’d like to hear discussed, please reach out.​

Resources

• Related episodes. If you haven’t listened to our Season 1 episodes on Google v Oracle or AIA Impact on Inventors, we highly recommend you also give them some ears. In this episode, we discuss how the SCOTUS case ties into open source use and how the PTAB has made life difficult for small inventors. 
• ​Transcripts. We're also providing computer-generated transcripts for improved accessibility and additional reference opportunities. 
• Video. This is another take on talk we recently hosted with Ann Arbor Spark. If you'd like to go deeper on these topics, please see the event page for a more details and a recorded version of the talk.
• Slides. For the visual learners out there, we also like to make our presenter slides available for your reference. 

Decrypting Software Patents: Key Insights for IP Success from Aurora Consulting