Andy Grove questions the future of the patent system
May 4th, 2009
During his acceptance speech for the lifetime achievement award from the National Inventors Hall of Fame, Dr. Grove cautioned the audience on the future of the patent system, likening it’s foundation to the instability that led to the crumbling of Wall Street (clipped from CNET News):
“Patents themselves have become products. They’re instruments of investment traded on a separate market, often by speculators motivated by the highest financial return on their investment.”
Considering the source of advice – we should all take heed, and consider Thomas Jefferson’s litmus test carefully as we look to the future of innovation: “The true value of an invention is its usefulness to the public“.
Certainly one of the greatest minds of our time and a man that changed the face of computing forever. He’s legendary in the industry and around the halls of Intel. We all have our favorite Andy stories, either personally witnessed or passed on from those who grew up in the company under his leadership. My summer intern exhibited our value of ‘risk taking’ last year and emailed Andy directly (yes, he still has a valid intel.com email address). When he told me I wondered if that was a good idea – turns out it was – he was quick to respond and gave him a classic Andy Grove pearl of wisdom. I’m sure it made his whole internship….