The Genie in the Machine: How Computer-Automated Inventing Is Revolutionizing Law and Business (Stanford Law Books) - Hardcover

Plotkin, Robert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0804756996 ISBN 13: 9780804756990

Publisher: Stanford University Press, 2009

Synopsis

We have long considered inventing to be a uniquely human activity. But just as the assembly line automated the process of manufacturing, today's computers are automating the process of inventing. Software can automatically generate designs for everything from toothbrushes to antennas to automobile frames more quickly and inexpensively than ever before, thereby ushering in a new era of artificial invention. Inventors will use artificial invention technology to boost their inventive abilities to previously undreamed-of heights, enabling small teams of inventors to compete with mega-corporations who insist on inventing the old-fashioned way. Even consumers will be able to use artificial invention technology to become inventors themselves. We stand poised to see the emergence of the "digital renaissance artisan"—a person who will have the ability to not only design new inventions at the touch of a button, but also to manufacture them automatically from the comfort of home. As Robert Plotkin reveals in this landmark book, our decisions about these inventions today will dictate who gets to control this powerful technology tomorrow. Should inventions designed by software be patentable? Should the software that produces those designs be patentable? The Genie in the Machine offers the first-ever examination of the implications of artificial invention technology for patent law, the law of invention. Along with practical advice for inventors, high-tech companies, and patent lawyers, this forward-looking book provides concrete recommendations for reforming patent law in light of the growing importance of invention-automation technology.

About this title

About the Author

Robert Plotkin is a patent lawyer specializing in patent protection for computer technology, with an emphasis on software patents. His clients range from individual inventors to Fortune 50 companies. He is a Lecturer at the Boston University School of Law and has written and spoken internationally on patent protection for software, computer ethics, freedom of expression in software source code, and electronic privacy. He is the founder of Robert Plotkin, P.C. in Burlington, Massachusetts, which has been named a "Go-To Law Firm for Leading Technology Companies" by American Lawyer Media.

Reviews

Sure, MIT's new Jeopardy-playing computer just got challenged by Ken Jennings, the quiz-show's Kasparov, but could a computer surpass Edison at invention? As tech-centric patent lawyer Plotkin explains, computers have already developed a revolutionary toothbrush and radio antennae, and in some ways are better suited to invention. Able to conceive of and abandon ideas without biases, and with greater speed and range, they would likely have saved Edison's lightbulb about 10,000 failed attempts. With the rise of invention-assisting computer programs he calls "genies," Plotkin predicts a "digital renaissance," provided patent law doesn't stunt its progress; to compare, he considers how the Internet might have been hobbled by restricting tools like HTML and Java. Plotkin argues that genies should be open platforms, free for anyone to use, and that the commands used to create parameters for the end-product ("wishes") should be patentable (despite potential grumbling from programmers and big business). At times, Plotkin overindulges in pedantic language and tangents (like the prehistory of genies), at the expense of compelling topics like, for instance, how genies work, or the underlying principles of patent law. Nevertheless, this absorbing look at the democratizing advances in invention technology should capture the imagination of engineers, programmers and entrepreneurs.
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Edition details

• Publisher: Stanford University Press
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0804756996
• ISBN 13: 9780804756990
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 281