Avoid making the same mistake as the genius who invented the spreadsheet for the PC, warns David Soskin, who cites intellectual property as the Viagra of the business world.
Dan Bricklin’s invention is used by everyone reading this magazine. It was one of the great innovations of the 20th century, and it revolutionised the use of the personal computer. Yet Bricklin is not a household name – although he is one of the most revered tech gurus in the US. Nor does his wealth match that of many whose contribution to computer software is far less substantial.
What he invented was the first spreadsheet available for PCs, VisiCalc. It was Bricklin’s brainwave. I know, because I was in the room at the time – yes, really.
So why did he not become as rich as Croesus? His excellent book, Bricklin on Technology, reveals all. His patent attorney told him that it was highly unlikely that he could obtain a US patent for his financial spreadsheet invention. For, in 1979, when VisiCalc was introduced, “patents for software inventions were infrequently granted”.
It was not until 1981 that a US Supreme Court decision opened the floodgates for software patents. As Bricklin writes: “Unfortunately for the players in the VisiCalc story, the decision came too late to help us patent the spreadsheet.”
I thought of his story recently when sharing a platform with Hugh Chappell, who founded the successful consumer electronic reviews website TrustedReviews. One of the first things he rightly pointed out was: “Intellectual property rights are the most important assets many businesses possess.”
He told the tale of a website that he was considering buying, only to find that its primary domain name was registered to the girlfriend of the man who owned the company. “Picture the scene five years later when a multi-million pound offer is made for the business, with one slight problem – a jilted, upset former girlfriend still owns this key asset,” said Chappell.
The business world is full of IP triumphs and blunders. One of my favourites is Percy Shaw. He was a Yorkshire labourer’s son who left school at 13 and came up with a “perfect invention” – the cats’ eyes road reflector. Original and highly practical, it was geared to a rapidly developing social phenomenon, road traffic. But unlike Bricklin, Shaw was able to patent his 1933 invention. A typical Yorkshireman, he lived a spartan life with only one indulgence: two Rolls-Royce motor cars. Small businesses should lean from Shaw as well as from megacorps such as Coca-Cola and Disney, which preserve their IP with fanatical zeal (and success).
So if you think you have the next big idea, proceed with care. Remember that ‘aspirin’, ’escalator’ and ’gramaphone’ were all originally registered trade marks. But, in each case, the registration in due course became invalidated. Why? Because its proprietor had failed to prevent the mark from being used as a generic word. The unhappy result for the companies is that all the words have now passed into ordinary vocabulary and are unprotectable for the goods for which they were originally registered.
IP is complex, so take it seriously. The story of Viagra can be cited as an object lesson of how to combine one’s deployment of patent and trade mark protection to the best possible effect. Although Pfizer lost its patent protection for the pharmaceutical after a legal challenge by a rival drug company, it had by that time built up the brand name Viagra so successfully that it continued to dominate the market despite the invalidity of its patent. When you think about it, successful IP could be considered the Viagra of the business mix.