6 ms·
You will notice that University of Wisconsin Madison is not on that list. This is because Dr. Harry Steenbock (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Steenbock htt
by ron0c 10y ago
You will notice that University of Wisconsin Madison is not on that list. This is because Dr. Harry Steenbock (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Steenbock https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Steenbock) with fantastic vision started the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF http://www.warf.org/about-us/about-us.cmsx http://www.warf.org/about-us/about-us.cmsx) where discoveries made at UW get the help of the team of lawyers to guide through the patent process while the royalties paid then go back to the university. Starting with his discovery on fortifying food with Vitamin D by method of ultraviolet light in 1925.
WARF is an enormous success at UW and last year alone contributed over $100 million back to the university.
- jessaustin 10y agoIf one were a cynic, one might suspect that UW is just playing the troll itself. Assuming that it isn't, what controls are in place that help UW avoid registering and then seeking royalties on trivial patents? If administrators decided that WARF should instead contribute $200M yearly, wouldn't the resulting patent inflation carry the whole operation into troll territory?
- wmf 10y agoSo far I can only find one trollish lawsuit from WARF (against Apple) so it's not clear how bad they are.
- shagie 10y agoOne can easily browse the patents and newly submitted inventions that are registered to the WARF: http://www.warf.org/technologies/new-patents.cmsx http://www.warf.org/technologies/new-patents.cmsx - the sidebar organizes them by category. The intention is more of "hey entrepreneurs, we've got this technology developed in academia - if you see a business model based on this, talk to us so you can use it." Of note, if you follow the 'technologies - information technology - software' path, you'll note that none of these are actually patents. They're listed as "technologies" instead. There do appear to be some patents listed... things like low profile, ultra wide band antenna and wideband transceiver for antenna array. All that said, one of the distinctions between the patent troll and the warf is that of "the warf is seeking business partnerships for people to use technologies, inventions, and patents developed at the university of madison" and the troll is "buying patents from one party and suing another party for royalties." The business model for the two is completely different.
- rhino369 10y agoPlenty of people call WARF a patent troll. There really isn't a difference between selling the patents and running your own trolling operation.
- cloudjacker 10y agoThe secret is that internet outrage memes arent real life