Communications - January 2013

viewpoints 1962 CR Arrow Circle Ad-ThirdVERT-F.pdf 2/9/2012 5:00: 14 PM

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customers continue to prefer Android phones that look and feel like the Apple iPhone. Not surprisingly, Windows phones as of this writing had a mere 3% of the market. 1

If more court decisions come down in favor of Apple’s design patents, it is likely the iPhone will remain distinctive. But it might also remain a minority platform at the higher end of the market, like the Macintosh in past years or the once-revered Cadillac. Maybe this is the best scenario for a company that wishes to maximize its profits. But is this the best scenario for consumers? Maybe not.

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intellectual Property Protection
The broader issue, of course, involves
the pluses and minuses of intellec-
tual property protection—a hotly de-
bated topic for decades. On one side
are those who have argued—success-
fully—that companies will not have
sufficient incentives to invest in re-
search and product development if
they are not allowed to capture the
value generated by their investments
for some significant period of time.
On the other side are those who argue
that intellectual property protection
actually hurts innovation at a broad-
er social level. Patents, because they
grant temporary monopolies, might
restrain the ability of other compa-
nies or individuals from making im-
provements or disseminating the
technology to a broader user base.a
Other research has found that pat-
ents issued in a particular area (for
example, around a specific protein
molecule in biotech research) can
have a “chilling” effect on further
research in this area. Patents in this
scenario can actually create disincen-
tives for further research and devel-
opment. 7 In general, though, most
governments have agreed with the
former argument and that is why they
have created patent systems, dating
back at least to the 15th century in Eu-
rope. The U.S. patent system predates
even the Constitution and currently
provides protection for 20 years from
the date of filing.