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2 Yale Symp. L. & Tech. [1] (2000)

handle is hein.journals/yjolt2 and id is 1 raw text is: Yale Symposium on Law and Technology Spring 2000 Integrating Patent Law and the Corporation: The Walker Digital Approachi Dean Alderuccitt Cite as: 2 YALE SYMP. L. & TECH. 1 (2000) <http://lawtech.law.yale. edu/symposium/00/comment-alderucci. htm> I. INTRODUCTION si In the first half of my talk, I will discuss the integration of the legal requirements that the patent system imposes on corporations, and I will contrast the traditional approach, or the approach that is adopted by most corporations, with the approach I deem the optimal approach, the Walker Digital Approach. That approach evolves continually, so it is flexible and it adapts to the way things should be when you have patent law and patent procedures in mind. The second half of my talk will focus more on Walker Digital itself, and the policies that position Walker Digital as a good patentee. I will also discuss our specific inventions, our licensing policies, and our spin-off policies. II. INTEGRATION OF THE LEGAL REQUIREMENTS AND THE CORPORATION A. The Traditional Approach Q What is the difference between the traditional approach that most corporations have and what I call the optimal approach? The traditional approach, unfortunately for the patent practitioner, treats patents almost as an afterthought. Patents are developed apart from the existing corporate structure. By corporate structure, I mean the policies and procedures of the corporation that are geared toward one thing: the production of whatever good or service that the company provides. Such a corporate structure might be optimal for production of that good or service, but it is not necessarily optimal for the production of patent protection around that good or service. The optimal strategy is to take a more progressive look at patents and, assuming that the corporate structure is not fixed, ask how you would change it so that the organization could make better use of patents. 0 I count myself lucky that a little over two years ago, Jay Walker, the founder and chairperson of Walker Digital, told me, You have the ability to structure the legal department, and, in small part, the company, as you see fit as long as it acquires adequate patent protection for our inventions. I was given a lot of flexibility, and consequently, I was able to do things a little differently than you might see done traditionally. s4 Usually in the development of patents, a company is focused on its core product to the exclusion of patent protection. In other words, the company devotes certain resources exclusively to the production of whatever it is the company makes. If you are a computer company, you make and sell computers, and you also have other problems that go along with that process: you have to advertise them, produce them, and resolve disputes with labor unions. So, patents take a back seat to the rest of the operating essentials of the company. While various employees are involved in the company's core practices, some employees may, almost accidentally, come up with inventions. That is the good part; if you hire smart, creative people, inventions can come directly from those people in many companies.

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