The United States granted the first patent to Samuel Hopkins of Pittsford, Vermont in 1790. Mr. Hopkin’s idea had to do with making potash which in turn was used in making glass and in various industrial processes.Two other major patents granted the same year were related to making candles and milling flour.
A mere 218 years later the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced that for the fifteenth consecutive year, IBM received more patents — 3,125 — than any other private sector organization in America. The patents were granted to more than 5,200 of the company’s inventors around the world. In keeping with the "green" times, IBM and the World Business Council for sustainable Development, along with Nokia, Pitney Bowes, and Sony, have established the Eco-Patent Commons, committing dozens of innovative, environmentally responsible patents to the public domain. The Eco-Patent Commons is an initiative to create a collection of patents on technology that directly or indirectly protects the environment. The patents will be made available to anyone free of charge.
While IBM creates the most patents, it also gives away the most. Surely IBM will continue to invent things in IBM Research laboratories but in addition they are fostering "collaborative innovation". The idea is to form an industry-wide "patent commons" in which patents are used to spread new ideas more rapidly to both developers and users. Some of the most significant technological advances are based on open standards (in the public eye like open source software) and shared knowledge and experience. Probably the best example of this I can think of is the Internet. IBM’s practice of giving away certain patents may lead to important breakthroughs as IBM challenges other companies to follow suit in deploying their intellectual
property portfolios for more than just legal or financial self-interest.
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