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When innovative ideas become routine

By Lawrence B. Ebert, Esq.

A note to Congress: don't look to the past for ideas about innovation or patent reform.

Of Starbucks, Reuters noted:

The company that began as innovative is now known for consistency and convenience, she said. "To me, that's a huge step down," she said. "You've built your franchise on people who are coming in because they know exactly what they want."

Precisely, said Justin Sergi, explaining why he preferred Lux, a cafe in Phoenix serving lattes with a fern-like pattern teased from steamed milk in ceramic cups, over Starbucks.

(...)

It's not as though Starbucks doesn't have defenders,

"It's convenient," said Anthony Castro, sitting in a Starbucks near his job at New York's Museum of Modern Art. "I know what to expect."

Hmmm, one could say the same thing about a lot of IT companies and their recent "technology." Trademark law is about name recognition based on past performance; patent law isn't.

Full post as published by IPBiz on July 06, 2008 (boomark / email).