Perpetual Innovation

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  • Should Monsanto own patent rights on the elements of life? – Los Angeles Times

    Should Monsanto own patent rights on the elements of life? – Los Angeles Times:

    Few people realize how patent intensive the food industry has become.

    The top 10 seed companies account for 2/3 of all seeds sold.

    A huge % of the seed sold are patented. Wow!

    “Over an 11-year period, the cost per acre of planting soybeans has risen a dramatic 325%.” Ouch!…
    BUT if the yield is improved, then the added cost to sow is well justified.

     Remember that genetically modified  (GMO) can/possibly be patented, organic not.

     But owning a gene and the patent on all activity to monitor/manage/tread based on that gene has interesting implications.  You can expect the pharma industry to watch this law suit in plants very closely.

    Keywords: GMO, organic, plant patents, Monsanto, seeds, farming, law suit,  genes,

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  • Taking a fresh look at solar energy’s benefits | Highlands Today

    Taking a fresh look at solar energy’s benefits | Highlands Today:

    Local article to Central Florida. It is good to see some movement on solar.

    Great. We all need to be more sustainable. Glad to see Coronado Solar getting out there and making it happen.
    Couple areas that aren’t precise. Probably lost something in the translation. Payback on solar hot water is usually 2 to 4 years. Really good ROI for pools (unless you like to polar-bear it in the winter). Payback for solar is usually 6 to 9 years; that’s probably the 6.5 years mentioned in the article.
    CO2e saved per home is about 6.68 metric tons per year based on 11.3MW per year with typical US electric power. (http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-resources/refs.html)
    That would be about 155 trees planted from seedlings for 10 year (not 20+ years life of the solar array). (http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-resources/calculator.html)
    It is always hard to visualize our carbon foot print. Each person in the US produces 5 metric tons of CO2 (or equivalent). Figure 2 people per household. And an acre of trees/forest takes out about 2 MTons per year (until about 30 years, then only 1MTon). So a household of 2 needs to plant at least 5 acres of new forest today to cover all of their burning of ancient forest (coal and oil) for the next 20-30 years.
    Oh well, energy-ize your house and save 15%-25% of your utilities for the change in your pocket. Get solar water heaters and save 5-15% and plan to go solar completely within the next few years. Maybe start the array and get the meter so it can easily be expanded in the future. Prices continue to drop and efficiency improve:-)
    Visit: http://www.carbonfootprint.com to calculate your own carbon footprint, individual or business.

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  • Top 15 drug patent losses for 2013 – … And Viagra…

    Top 15 drug patent losses for 2013 – FiercePharma:

    In the usual search of the BIG patents that are about to drop off the cliff, it is always fun to see what comes up.

    This is a great assessment of the 2013 Patent Cliff.

    Wanna see what’s in store for the the next 4-5 years check out this report and forecast for pharma patents through 2018 by EvaluatePharma: http://www.evaluatepharma.com/worldpreview2018.aspx

    Just reviewing the past couple years you will see Plavix and Lipitor going off patent with more than $5B in annual sales. Wow. Look at this from 2011: The 10 Biggest-Selling Drugs That Are About to Lose Their Patent – DailyFinance: “Plavix”

    But I got tripped up in the Viagra and its patent status. Check out this article from the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20258639

    Pfizer lost its Viagra patent in Canada. The Supreme court there was unforgiving in the approach that was taken in the patent to mention everything including the kitchen sink, not primarily focus on the only active ingredient  The court thought that this was a poor attempt at “gaming” the patent process and seemed rather less than entertained. Ouch!.

    In Canada the patent was due to expire in 2014 anyway.  Seems that the main patent in the US will go public domain in 2018.

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  • IBM and China. #1 in the world of Patents

    IBM is again the patent king with the most patents issued. Now just under 6,500 issued in a single year. That’s issued, not applications.


    IBM

    •Celebrated 101 years since its first patent
    •In 2012 was its 20th year as most US patents
    •In 2012 received 6,478 patents! (not applications!)
    •Spent $6B on R&D  … roughly $1m per patent.
    •IBM makes $1B+ per year on IP sales/licensing!
    => That is almost pure profit$!

    This is a fun article about the big patent companies and IBM’s Watson system beating out the best and the brightest on the show Jeopardy. 

    In the meanwhile, China has moved up to the busiest patent office in the world! It was only a couple years ago that they were 5th and not long prior to that they they were not a signatory on IP treaties!..


  • Iris From Lowes. PowerMeter from Google

    Iris:

    Setting up a smart home gets a whole lot easier. This helps to monitor the home energy use as a kind of side benefit.

    One of the advantages of doing this security and home management stuff yourself (DIY) is that the likelihood of actually utilizing it, and utilizing it well increases.

    The cost is about $10 per month for more services and longer record times, however?

    This probably can’t replace the home monitoring system like ADT. They live-monitor and use the telephone line (not the INet); The Homeowner’s Insurance company likes that type of monitoring for home and fire.

    Consider using power monitoring with such visual monitoring tools as those provided free from Google’s PowerMeter: http://www.google.com/powermeter/about/

    Simply monitoring power is the key. Two studies reviewed by Google show that a community that engaged in power monitoring had a 71% residential engagement. In a pilot study in Dubuque, Iowa with IBM showed a community realized 11% energy savings simply from monitoring and metering their power usage using SmartMeters… Well, and usage/behavioral changes in usage, of course.

    Just thinking, a little energy savings now could save us all a bundle of money this year and every year thereafter. And, oh, by the way, it would save a lot of impact on the environment. Smart Meters sound smarter and smarter.

    The greenest kilowatt is the one never used at the meter, never distributed down the transmission lines, never generated in the powerplant and the full source never mined or pumped.

    Just thinking.

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