Twitter’s IPA”: The Rise of Trade Secrets and the End of Innovation
Twitter posted their Innovators Patent Agreement (IPA) https://github.com/twitter/innovators-patent-agreement/blob/master/innovators-patent-agreement.md with much ballyhoo yesterday. Despite the claim that Twitter will only assert patents defensively, part 2(b) of the IPA allows Twitter to assert patents against anyone who has asserted their patents. This will only exclude a very few companies, mainly startups. Twitter’s stated goal is to promote innovation, but the real result if Twitter is successful will be that companies will rely on Trade Secrets. Trade secrets decrease innovation, because the information is not shared. Inventors cannot build on the work of previous inventors and they are more likely to waste resources rediscovering other people’s work (reinventing the wheel). History clearly shows that when a country relies on trade secrets instead of patents, innovation is impeded. Those countries with weak or nonexistent patent systems are not innovators and their people live on the edge of starvation.
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This blog is devoted to intellectual property innovation, patent law and innovation. The moderator, editor, and main 
author is Dale B. Halling. Mr. Halling is patent attorney and entrepreneur. As a patent attorney, Mr. Halling, has represented numerous Fortune 500 companies including, McDonnell Douglas, Boeing, Motorola, Ameritech, SBC, MCI, Cypress, and numerous technology start-ups. He has helped his clients obtain patents worldwide. Mr. Halling has a BS in Electrical Engineering from Kansas State University, an MS in Physics from the University of Texas at Dallas and a JD from St. Louis University. Mr. Halling is the author of the book “The Decline and Fall of the American Entrepreneur: How Little Known Laws are Killing Innovation.”
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It’s a PR move, plain and simple. Consider this: twitter is already generally known to have failed to seek IP protection shortly after its inception, most likely rendering any patents sought now extremely weak due to intervening prior art.
However, the IPA would not apply to any patents acquired from secondary markets, which would be the only place they are likely to obtain patents sufficient to protect the core product.
Comment by Patrick | April 18, 2012 |
Interesting point
Comment by dbhalling | April 18, 2012 |
[…] B. Halling warns in State of Innovation that “[t]rade secrets decrease innovation, because the information is not shared. Inventors […]
Pingback by Innovator’s Patent Agreement: Twitter’s Defensive Patenting Strategy | JOLT Digest | August 11, 2013 |