Kill a patent, make a bundle.

February 3, 2001 6:28 PM

Kill a patent, make a bundle. This is one of the more creative uses of the web to date. A new kind of matchmaker, actually. Patents are a common source of litigation and often a company accused of violating a patent wants to prove that the patent is invalid. The easiest way to do that is to find "prior art", to prove that the invention described by the patent actually existed elsewhere before the owner of the patent filed for it. So this web site offers prizes ($10,000!) for leads to prior art in specific cases. Those offering the prizes are anonymous, though it's often possible to figure out who they are just by the questions they ask if you have a knowledge of disputes in the industry.
posted by Steven Den Beste (3 comments total)

I thought that said "kill a patient, make a bundle."
posted by kindall at 10:14 PM on February 3, 2001

If Bezos is a backer, would they still look for prior art again "One Click Ordering"?

(OK, I admit I may be confused about things here, so if that doesn't make sense just ignore me)

posted by andrew cooke at 12:51 AM on February 4, 2001

bountyquest was first pointed out here many moons ago, but it's cool to see that it's working.

and yes, bezos says that he's welcoming prior art challenges to all of amazon's patents (and, in fact, they had a bounty out for 1-click, but the deadline has now passed).
posted by mmanning at 2:54 AM on February 4, 2001