I first heard of this idea in an Economist article. The idea was simple, sell the right to use a patent like you would stock on the stock market. Here is how it works.
Simple really: Basically you take your patent and offer it as an investment on the stock market. This literally opens up your patent to every one for there use. All a person would have to do is buy stock in it and they would be allowed to use that patent in an item they produced equal to the number of stocks purchased. The article gave a really nice example. If you design a superior type of tire and a car company wants to use it on their cars they would buy the stock. So one car needs four tires, thus they must purchase four shares in the stock. If they want to make a full production run of 100 cars with the tires they would have to buy 400 shares of stock equivalent to the number of the tires they want to make and use. As such, the person who created the item in the first place makes a profit.
Supply and demand: What makes this system even better is that if the stock goes up, so does the share price enabling the patent holder to make plenty of money. Of course the opposite is true as well, for if the stock goes down so does the amount of money the person makes. This prevents a patent from being too overpriced or even under priced. So basically supply and demand ensure that the no body is over charged or under paid.
Risk: The only risk in this idea is that you are basically putting your patent out there for all to use. But people who would just want to use the idea without paying up will still attempt to do so. Thus, legal hurtles will still be there with respect to protecting your patent from those who don't want to pay to use your idea or invention. However, such a problem already exists in the first place and people would have the right to sell their patents in the traditional way as well so as to maintain the patents integrity.
Conclusion: This concept eliminates the traditional licensing agreements that lawyers have to make allowing smaller companies access to these ideas which may in turn boost small businesses with better quality products. It insures that greedy patent holders never over charge and greedy corporations never under pay through supply and demand. Also, it gives an inventers idea much greater exposure in the market place and allows for nearly anyone who can afford to pay the stock price to use the patent. Sure the risk that your idea will be stolen is still ever present. However, if you think of how many people would have access to your idea, one that may even change the world, then is it not worth the risk. So shall we shake up the patent system and let everyone join in?
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