(Image source: FreePatentsOnline )



BY EVAN THOMAS


Weaponized patents have seen some pretty high-profile cases of late — just look at Yahoo and Facebook trading salvos. Now, Twitter has a plan to make the patent scene a little less litigious.

In a blog post on Tuesday , Twitter explains the Innovator’s Patent Agreement. The IPA prevents the company from taking offensive legal action with an employee’s patents without first getting permission from said inventor. Without that permission, the patents can only be used for defensive action.

And inventors can neutralize any suit that goes ahead in spite of the agreement. TechDirt explains .

“The method by which this works is pretty creative. Basically, if the actual patent holder tries to use the patent offensively without first obtaining the permission of the inventor, the agreement allows the inventor to issue a license to the entity being sued…”

Under the IPA, inventors keep the rights to their patents, no matter which company owns them. At VentureBeat, analyst Rocky Agrawal speaks from experience —  inventors will probably get on board .

“Twitter’s move could serve as an important recruiting tool and could help enforce good corporate behavior around patents. The idea of having more control over how a patent gets used is very compelling to me as an inventor.”

But a writer for Forbes worries —  no inventor should have all that power .


“…it really places all faith in questions of law, strategy and morality into the hands of the inventors. There’s nothing wrong with giving them some say. But the posture of inventor infallibility that seems to be embedded in the doctrine flies against the American systems of fairness and participation.”

Silicon Beat is calling it now: the IPA will be a non-starter . Shareholders won’t want to invest in declawed companies.

“Patents are now assets, plain and simple. And anyone who restricts their own patents in any way, or offers to unilaterally back down, is essentially reducing the value of those assets.”

And TIME points out the only thing distinguishing the IPA from the current system is that inventor permission.

“Twitter says that it won’t sue other companies offensively over patents without the permission of the patent’s inventor. It says that it won’t bully inventors into granting that permission, but if it does get it, it can go ahead and sue and be as offensive as it pleases.”

It’s worth noting Twitter has never been in court over patents, and it says it plans to keep it that way. The company will roll out the IPA later this year, and it’s issued an open invitation for adoption.