Articles by Joseph Lee

Why Netflix has kicked ass

I propose three main reasons for Netflix rapid growth: (1) broad device and software architecture support, (2) contracts with top content producers, and (3) optimal timing with respect to scaling, product deployment and technology road mapping. I will outline the ways these three factors have contributed to Netflix growth below. 1. Broad device and software architecture support Netlflix supports a huge range of devices and operating systems. The astounding list includes: Windows and OSX, , ChromeOS, iOS, Android, and Windows Phone, Amazon Kindle, and Nook, which pretty much rounds out the entire PC, notebook, smartphone, and tablet markets. Netflix was also able to secure streaming capabilities in a wide array of Blue-ray players, and smart TV’s and set-top-boxes. Once you include XBox, Playstation, Nintendo Wii, 3D, WiiU, TiVO and Boxee, it’s hard to find a digital device that doesn’t support Netflix. Forbes reports that Playstation is the most used device…

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What are the big TV networks scared of most?

Major TV networks in several cases have been acquired by or merged with cable providers. Their business model is heavily integrated with cable and internet service. With respect to internet technology, their biggest fear may be the realization of a technology race coined “The Last Mile” (Cordeiro, 2003). The goal of ‘the last mile’ is for telecoms to deliver broadband wireless internet to homes. Intel had plans to help make that happen with WiMax but luckily for ISP’s have come up short so far. If telecoms were to successfully develop a superior last mile solution, consumers may switch from Comcast or AOL cable internet to Verizon or AT&T. So, wireless broadband is a potentially disruptive technology for cable service providers (Goodwins, 2005; The Economist 2002). With respect to online video content being a disruptive technology, TV networks biggest fear may that global broadband penetration, significant improvements in broadband speeds and…

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Regression Analysis of Software-Litigation vs Patenting Activity

Here are the results of a regression comparison of all software litigation and all software patenting activity since 2000. The results show correlation which could be described as somewhere between moderate and strong. The resulting Peason’s R value for this study is 0.5193. The purpose of doing this regression study is to prove some correlation between litigation and R&D expenditure. Patent grants issued are not a direct measure of R&D expenditure, because patents costs different amounts to produce in different industries. However, these are all software-related classes, and so correlation between grants issued and R&D expenditure should be stronger than when measuring all UPC classes for the whole USPTO. PastedGraphic-1.pdf

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Here are two charts to show the proportion of software patent grants of all patent grants issued by year since 2008, and software patent grants share of all litigation since 2008. Both are increasing at a steady rate. These facts correspond with the importance of software in corporate strategy in the past decade. Software has also dominated M&A deals in terms of value and volume. Figure 1: Patent Grants from software-related UPC subclasses as a share of all patent grants issued (2008-2012) Figure 2: Patent Grants from software-related UPC subclasses as a share of all patent litigation (2008-2012)

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Stanford Online: Course on Academic Writing

I’m currently enrolled in a Stanford Online course linked below; Writing in the Sciences.There is still time to enrol although the course has already started. The first module seemed pretty straight-forward, and I am working on the second module now. Apparently over 30,000 students have signed up for the course. It includes 10 weeks of study, unit modules which include videos, and quizzes. The first writing assignment is 300-500 review of a seminal essay from your field. All in all, the course is very easy to navigate, informative, and so far I believe I have learned something that can help me improve my writing. https://class.stanford.edu/courses/Medicine/SciWrite/Fall2013/info  

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Look What Patent the Queen Owns!

Doing some research, I discovered a patent: <a href=http://www.google.com/patents/US5026417>5026417</a>. The assignee for this patent is none other than: Her Majesty the Queen in right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of Agriculture Published: Jun 25, 1991 The country associated is Canada: CAX Here is the abstract: A method and composition for increasing the amounts of phosphorus and/or micronutrients available for uptake by plants from the soil. The invention involves introducing an inoculum of the fungus Penicillium bilaji into (or onto) the soil. This has the effect of increasing the solubility of phosphates and micronutrient sources which may be either native to the soil or added to it, e.g. in the form of insoluble rock phosphate or manufactured phosphate fertilizer. The invention can be used to increase the health, growth rates and yields of plants, especially crop plants grown on nutrient-deficient soils, while eliminating or minimizing the need for expensive…

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US Patent Litigation vs Patent Grants Since 2000

Comparing the total number of patent grants and total number of litigation instances (LI) since 2000 we can see almost a mirror image. However, since patent litigation is leading indicator of economic growth, it can provide more sensitive data about market and economic growth. These findings are significant to notice on this scope because it shows parity between patent litigation and corporate investment in to R&D. Patent applications and renewals are expensive. The comparison further validates patent litigation’s ability to indicate value.

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Alethia University – ICIM 2013

This weekend I’m attending ICIM 2013 in Danshui, Taipei, Taiwan. Upon my arrival the hospitality was evident. The professor Tzong-Heng Chi showed me around, gave me a history lesson, and found me a old 1875 style veranda to park myself and drink lemonade. Too perfect. Alethia university has the feeling that all institutions of education should have. The historical architecture essentially balances your thoughts and rationality is nurtured. I will do my presentation later today. Thanks Chi! Perfect spot to relax before the conference.

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Hon Hai Accumulating Intelligent Auto Patents

Luxgen is a new Taiwanese independent auto brand seeking to grow and add market share in Taiwan and abroad. Luxgen has shown propensity towards selling intelligent automobiles in a global market. More broadly, in the US autonomous vehicles have been licensed for testing in two US states to date, and Google’s Sergey Brin has publicly predicted that autonomous vehicles will be ready for market in 5 years. Luxgen is owned by parent company Hon Hai Precision Industry Ltd. Hon Hai has started to accumulate patents related to autonomous vehicles starting in 2010 and their transportation related patent awards and their details are below in Figure 2 and Table 4. Secondly, top litigated software UPC classes for 2012 include several classes related to transportation technology. These litigation trends indicate that technological innovation in the transportation industry is high-value at this time. Figure: Hon Hai Transportation Related Patent Grants by Award Year…

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USPC to CPC Statistical Concordance Table

NOTE: The USPC to CPC concordance pages mentioned in the original post are not available via the USPTO website anymore. So, I have posted the CSV of the concordance below. You can download the CSV here: https://www.syspect.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/uspc-cpc.csv OLD POST The USPC to CPC statistical concordance table is available on the USPTO website:http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/classification/index.htm The only problem is that it’s nearly impossible to download all the tables because they are all on separate pages. Here is a web-scraping python script to download all the tables for all USPC and create a CSV file. The script is available here and requires the BeautifulSoup library: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/45852891/UPC-CPCconcordance1000.py The parsed CSV file is available here: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/45852891/uspc-cpc.csv The CSV includes the first 5 related CPC codes as columns and can be opened in excel or imported into a database. Cheers!

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