“Oh, Yeah? Prove It!”
Bringing both sides of the patent issue together to find the truth about prior art
A major corporation claims to hold the rights to intellectual
property you're using, and you're about to be sued. Call
BountyQuest. For a minimum charge of $16,500, the company will
investigate the patent's prior art, saving you the hundreds of
thousands of dollars needed to undertake a legal defense.
"For most entrepreneurs, patents are a double-edged
sword," says Charles Cella, founder of the Boston,
Massachusetts-based start-up. "We don't threaten
entrepreneurs [who have] real innovations you can build a business
around. But if you're threatened by someone else's claim to
a patent, we can give you a silver bullet."
At the forefront of the debate are Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos
and computer book publisher Tim O'Reilly. While Bezos defends
patent holders' rights, O'Reilly favors making intellectual
property public. Both men are BountyQuest investors.
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"We all share the view that there is a need for
reform," says Cella, 35. "Every Internet company uses
prior art: one-click transactions, banner ads. We want to make
patent information more readily available by tapping into the
knowledge of scientists and engineers around the world."
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