John Wilbanks

Richard Jefferson, John Wilbanks, Phil Weilerstein, Dave Robinson

I wrote a blog post last week in anticipation of today's discussion on intellectual property. It's a topic that I've been interested in for some time, and I was looking forward to seeing what sort of themes would arise when experts on the topic got in front of a room of inventor-entrepreneurs.

The discussion didn't disappoint. The panelists were Richard Jefferson of Cambia, John Wilbanks of Science Commons, Phil Weilerstein of the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance, and Dave Robinson (Bright Simons unfortunately couldn't attend).

The discussion was animated and even heated at times. Richard began by saying that the patent system was designed to support sharing and reuse of ideas, not restrict it. The first patent administrator was Thomas Jefferson, and according to Richard, early 1800s patents were administered with a "legal nod and a wink." If you could demonstrate Thomas Jefferson the novelty and use of your idea, then he'd grant you a patent. The purpose, Richard says, was to bring explanations of new technologies into the public domain; the temporary monopoly inventors would be granted on their inventions was a side effect.

One of the many sessions in Hyderabad that I'm really excited about is a discussion on intellectual property with Richard Jefferson of Cambia, John Wilbanks of Science Commons, Phil Weilerstein of the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance, and Ashoka fellow Bright Simons of mPedigree.

Here's a great interview with Richard Jefferson that ABC TV Australia ran a few months ago. Jefferson explains how Cambia is enabling biotech innovation by rethinking how scientists deal with IP issues. He makes the alluring point that open source - something we often think of as a recent development - has actually existed for millennia, much longer than proprietary technologies.