Technology purists love to debate the choices made when the open architecture of the original ‘IBM pc’ helped rapid market acceptance and a dominant market share compared to Apple’s closed design for which it paid a price in terms of market share.

Companies make a careful choice when they decide to take a patent on a product or process innovation. Taking a patent on proprietary technology often depends on whether it is defensible, that is, when you can catch the violator. If your unique knowhow is embedded deep in a microprocessor, or in a sealed widget that cannot be seen or accessed, you do not want to lay it bare in your patent application for the world to know.

Companies also have to make the tough choice about whether to share the know-how with others, help develop it into a standard, let the market grow and benefit from it; or alternatively, to cling on to it and derive revenues from own use and licensing.

Open systems The story of how Sony clung on to Betamax for the videotape format (said to be superior technically) while JVC’s VHS went on to become the standard is well known.

When Philips and Sony independently developed the compact disc (CD), Sony had learned its lesson and collaborated with Philips to jointly develop a standard that was offered in 1979. Downstream variations, such as the CD-R, CD-RW and so on began to develop.

Linux operating system is the other classic example of an open source technology that went on to spur various other efforts and developers, and dampened the competitive intent of big players such as Sun Microsystems.

Carefully done, baring the fundamentals of an innovation can not only help develop your market abut also throw a spanner into the intent of a major competitor!

The IT sector drew attention not too long ago for patent trolls — where firms acquired thousands of patents with a view to opportunistic licensing and would viciously go after small entrepreneurs threatening them with law suits because they may be in violation of some patent.

Many dreams were shattered by the entrepreneurs’ inability to pay up or fight in courts. The liberal issue by the US patenting office of patents in this field contributed to this situation. Did you know that Amazon holds the patent in the US for allowing customers to make a purchase with a single click of the mouse, but could not sustain it in Europe?

Musk’s way The trend seems to be turning in some areas of technology and now firms are more willing to show-and-tell what they have than to hide. Facebook has shared designs of computer servers, data storage and other hardware related ideas. Various fairs are held around the world where participants show what they are working on — and the participants include both your garage- level entrepreneurs as well as established firms.

Tesla, the electric car company, is taking the market-building route. Elon Musk, Tesla’s founder and CEO, and evangelist-at-large announced that he was going to share his firm’s patents because he wants to see an electric car industry develop. As other manufacturers experiment and create cars with similar performance, consumer acceptance would grow, and the support network required such as car-charging stations and mechanics would also emerge.

Ever wondered what would have happened if Tim Berners Lee had taken a patent on the design of the world wide web?

(The writer is a professor at the Jindal Global Business School, Delhi NCR and at Suffolk University, Boston)

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