The importance of intellectual property and the defense of patents only continue to grow in modern society. According to the November 1st abajournal.com article, “Out of the Crowd: Public-Supplied Info Gains Ground in Courts”, more and more patent attorneys are using crowdsourcing as a means of reaching millions of researchers globally who are skilled at locating things like tables, images, and foreign documents - many of which can be very obscure.
Ray Felts, San Francisco-based president of Article One Partners, a company that specializes in online patent studies for clients, was quoted as saying in the abajournal.com article: “For many clients like Microsoft and Philips, many of the assertions [against them] are poor quality. In their view, there is no way certain patents are valid because the technology has been around for years, but they can't always find proof to make that case.” He added that, for clients, “the power is awareness of this treasure chest of non-patent literature and publications that are not in English.”
And, while crowdsourcing appears to be growing in popularity in the legal profession regarding intellectual property, the practice is gaining ground in other areas as well. The abajournal.com article cites the example of the restaurants named Chipotle and Chipotles. Chipotle sued Chipotles for infringement. According to the article, consumer reviews that appeared on a social media site were used as critical evidence. The court decided to grant the plaintiff injunctive relief based largely on the apparent confusion consumers had, and demonstrated via commentary on sites like Urbanspoon and Yelp. Reviews on sites such as these linked the plaintiff and defendant in error.
However, while crowdsourcing was helpful in this case, the article points out that the practice as a means of obtaining admissible evidence in other cases may not always be possible, as online commentary may be seen largely as hearsay, especially comments posted online anonymously. The article also proposes that companies like Yelp would be unlikely to reveal IP addresses or the credentials of those who'd commented, as information to be verified for evidence in a trial.
Undoubtedly, with the continued advances in technology, crowdsourcing is a concept and practice that is here to stay in many ways yet unseen. Its use has yet to be cemented in the legal profession, but it continues to take a foothold.
Article One Partners makes it possible, according to information at the company's website, for a crowd to respond to requests for research in the patent area. The company's mission is to help strengthen the quality of legitimate patents and reduce unjust patent monopolies.
An example of the work the company performs includes developing patent studies that last for six weeks. During that time select communities of scientists and other specialists are asked to locate pertinent artwork for rewards ranging from $5,000 to $50,000. This is dependent on the nature of the dispute. After performing this type of study, the company sorts and organizes the submissions, communicates the top finds to the client, and posts the winner of the best entry on its website.
According to information at its website, Yelp is “an online urban city guide that helps people find cool places to eat, shop, drink, relax and play, based on the informed opinions of a vibrant and active community of locals in the know.”
