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Monday, May 11, 2009

Andy Grove 'dubious' on the patent system and future innovation

For all the EDN readers who clicked on our story last week "Andy Grove, Gordon Moore, other engineers honored by National Inventors Hall of Fame" and wanted to know more about what Grove said when he accepted his lifetime achievement award on Saturday, May 2, check out the below YouTube video.

He is introduced by Ted Hoff, co-inventor of the microprocessor, who said of Grove, "Inventors tend to be dreamers, and Andy taught us how to turn dreams into reality."

Grove, himself, spent his short three-minute speech discussing the patent system and its issues. He received his award as the National Inventors Hall of Fame celebrated 50 years of the IC and honored 15 other engineers who have made significant contributions related to or enabled by semiconductors.

"As we celebrate the accomplishments of the last 50 years, I can't help but wonder if the next 50 years will be equally productive. I'm dubious," Grove said. "Fifty years ago, the inventor was also the producer. Today the inventor may work for one entity while the production or the distribution is done by other."

Patents that sell have become products, he said, and are financial instruments more than instruments of innovation. "I fear that our patent system increasingly serves those who invest in the patent product and that that will limit the reach of the product product and benefit," Grove said. "We must undertake to rebuild this system as well so it does what it is supposed to do: help the public -- all of us."

You can view the video below and, as always, your comments are welcome. What do you think of Grove's comments? Are you, too, "dubious" about how the patent system will impact innovation?

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