Patent Law

Defensive

By Gary Odom and Jordan Kuhn

Earlier this week, a thick-waisted but thin-skinned Nathan Myhrvold, Intellectual Ventures CEO, ventured into incoherence, jockeying defensively when questioned by grizzled technology reviewer for the Wall Street Journal, Walt Mossberg: "Don't call me a patent troll," and "I'm not abusing the patent system."

 Myhrvold: "I challenge the notion that there's something wrong with having an investable asset. We're closing the loop of capital... There's nothing wrong with trying to get a reasonable return" on patents.

Wielding the shtick of "I'm like a famous respected dead person," Myhrvold self-mythologized:

"Thomas Edison's business model was very similar to ours." What's different, he said, is that he thinks there's a new model, called "invention capital," that's similar to venture capital in that "you create an algorithmic way that people can get funded."

If that doesn't make sense to you, it's because it doesn't make sense. Period. It's an algorithmic way to say something that sounds like it might be something more than hot air, but isn't.

Intellectual Ventures buys patents from inventors at lowball prices. On its web site, Intellectual Ventures has a little shuck-and-jive graphic that leaves you wondering how they keep their doors open, especially considering they have never mounted an enforcement campaign. Intellectual Ventures is reputedly backed by Coalition for Patent Fairness members.

Sources: c/net, Barron's, personal experience, and the grapevine.

Full post as published by The Patent Prospector on May 31, 2008 (boomark / email).