Patent Or Perish, A Guide For Gaining And Maintaining Competitive Advantage In The Knowledge Economy

Patent or Perish explains in clear and simple terms the vital role patents play in enabling high technology firms to gain and maintain a competitive edge in the knowledge economy. Patent or Perish describes how technologies like the Internet remove traditional barriers to entry and enable competitors to quickly and effortlessly duplicate positions of competitive advantage and shows why just having good ideas is not enough. This books shows why companies need good ideas that can be patented. Patent or Perish shows how companies like HP and Lexmark use patents (and other intellectual properties) to create highly profitable computer printer business models - and keep competitors at bay. The creation and protection of intellectual property is essential to survival of high-tech firms. This book explains the value of knowledge and why you have to protect it. It explores the dichotomy between traditional patenting and licensing strategies that are focused on discrete technologies, and how to apply these strategies in complex technologies. Patent or Perish will help any high technology firm make better decisions regarding what patents to file: you will learn what makes a valuable patent, and, more importantly, what doesn't. You will learn how to view patents as part of overall business strategy. Most important, you will learn practical strategies for how to use patents to create and defend strong market positions. Some of the most important topics featured are: - How companies like HP and Lexmark use patents to create the highly profitable computer printer business - Why Open Source is a threat to small and independent software developers - Why the invention strategy fails - When filing fewer patents can be better - How to determine the value of a patent

Eric L. Stasik is director of Patent08 a consulting firm based in Stockholm, Sweden offering patent engineering, mining, and brokering services. Eric provides consulting services to small- and medium-sized businesses who want to create strong new patent positions and maximize the leverage available from their existing portfolio.

From 1992-2002, Eric worked with patent strategy in various capacities for the Swedish telecommunications giant, LM Ericsson. Beginning as senior patent engineer in the US mobile phone division in 1992, he moved to Sweden in 1995 where he became manager of international IPR activities within the GSM division of Ericsson Radio Systems until 2000 when the division was merged with other operations. In his final position, as corporate director of IPR and licensing at Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson, Eric was one of several directors responsible for creating and executing Ericsson’s corporate patenting and licensing strategies.

Prior to joining Ericsson and succumbing to the lure of patents, Eric enjoyed a successful career as a designer of microwave and radio frequency communications components.

From 1987 until 1991, he was principal engineer for Microwave Resources, Inc. (MRI) a developer and manufacturer of specialized microwave components which he co-founded. Eric designed, manufactured, and built (by hand) microwave couplers, adapters, switches, filters, detectors, and phase shifters in dispersive transmission media from 1000 MHz up to 94 GHz. The author has particular expertise in the black art of microwave ferrite design and exceptionally strong skills in circuit design: he was responsible for the design and manufacture of all of MRI’s electronic drivers.

Prior to starting out on his own, Eric was senior microwave design engineer between 1985 and 1987 for Electromagnetic Sciences, Inc. (EMS) then a highly specialized manufacturer of space flight communications hardware headquartered in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia USA. At EMS, the author became responsible for the research and design of experimental high-power broadband microwave ferrite switches.

From 1984 and 1985, Eric was employed by RCA Missile and Surface Radar in Moorestown, New Jersey USA where he wrote software for microwave testing of phased-array beamforming assemblies.

Eric graduated with a BSEE from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1984 and has since written a number of articles and authored several commercial programs relating to the computer-aided design of microwave components, including a widely used program for the design of coaxial low-pass filters.

After acquiring an MSEE from Georgia Tech in 1992, Eric became a registered US Patent Agent and began a career working with patents and intellectual property. This is his first book.

Eric Stasik makes his home in Stockholm, Sweden and can be reached most suitably via e-mail:

eric.stasik@telia.com

or

info@patent08.com