Every patent
document has a prior art section, consisting of lists of patents and other
publications which were considered during the patent prosecution at the US
patent offfice. Cited patents are provided by the applicants or may be
identified by the patent examiners.
Measuring the number of citations
of a published patent is a vital indicator for establishing the importance of a
strategic patent [1]. Frequently cited
patents typically represent key technologies that have led to many subsequent
innovations, and are often correlated with various measures of success
[2]. Breschi et. al stated in their research
on highly-cited patents that identifying the 5% most cited US patents "imply
selecting USPTO patents receiving 20 citations or more" [3].
In a recent New
York Times article reflecting on the recent purchase of Palm by HP, writer
Jenna Wortham interviewed Mr. Pete Conley, a managing partner at MDB. Mr.
Conley said that his firm valued Palm's portfolio of patents at about $1.4
billion. In particular, Mr. Conley pointed out that "Palm has a multitasking
patent issued in December 2003 that has been cited by other companies 48 times
in the last seven years". He pointed out that 48 citations is "roughly 10 times
the average of any patent and is indicative of its high value".[4]
RotoView Citation
Analysis Results
This
updated citation analysis was conducted based
on the USPTO web site as of October 28, 2011. The first RotoView patent US
6,466,198 was published in October 2002 and was cited 108 times (more than
twice the citation count for the Palm multitasking patent mentioned above). The
second RotoView patent US 6,933,923, published in 2005, was cited 65 times
(including 33 citations as 2002/0190947). In addition, the RotoView web site
was cited by 4 US patents, bringing the total citations count to 177. After
accounting for patents that cite both RotoView patents, there are 140 unique
citing patents.
An important
aspect of patent citing analysis is the quality of the citing patents' owners.
Major companies (listed alphabetically) whose patents cite RotoView include:
Apple Computer, Black & Decker, Casio Computer, Fujitsu, HP, Google, Intel
Corp, Koninklijke Philips Electronics, Kyocera Corp, LG Electronics, LM
Ericsson, Matsushita Electrical Industrial Co, Memsic Inc., Microsoft,
Motorola, NEC Corp, Nintendo, Nokia, Palm, Samsung, Seiko Epson, Sharp, Siemens
Corp and Sony.
A Peek Into
Related Pending Patent Applications
While citation
count is a crucial metric for valuing patents, experts have indicated the need
for a multi-stage evaluation to insure that a highly-cited patent really points
to a major innovation [5]. Since 2001 all
pending patent applications at the USPTO are routinely published, although
pending application does not show the prior art citations until (and if) the
patent is granted. One can therefore expand citation analysis with patent
applications using special keywords. In the following table, we have searched
the number of patent applications of the companies that cite RotoView patents
and determined how many applications are related to accelerometers and
orientation sensors. (Chart as of May 27, 2010.)
| Company |
Patent Applications relating to
"accelerometer" |
Patent Applications relating to "orientation
sensor" |
| Apple |
159 |
12 |
| Hewlett-Packard
|
3 |
2 |
| Microsoft
|
174 |
22 |
| Intel |
7 |
0 |
| Nintendo |
45 |
4 |
| Nokia |
89 |
13 |
| Palm |
13 |
3 |
| RIM |
47 |
5 |
| Samsung |
99 |
10 |
| Sony |
168 |
20 |
Of course, only a
small portion of the patent applications shown above directly relate to
tilt-based view navigation. However, the vast number of of these patent
applications show that RotoView patents are indicative of a major field of
R&D activity.
Conclusions
In conclusion,
the 140 unique citations of the RotoView patent is a very high citation
count, which clearly reflects on the value of the RotoView patents. This high
citation count significantly exceeds the number of citations of many of the
valuable patents that have been in the news due to a high purchase price or
successful settlements. Analysis of pending applications clearly indicates that
the RotoView citations count is expected to continue climbing
rapidly.
Note: This page was
originally published on May 26, 2010,
when the RotoView patent citation count just exceeded the 100 unique patent
citations mark.
References
1. Anthony Breitzman and Patrick Thomas, "Using
patent citation analysis to target/value M&A candidates", In Research
Technology Management, September 2002.
2. Albert, M. B., Avery, D., McAllister, P. and Narin, F.
"Direct Validation of Citation Counts as Indicators of Industrially Important
Patents." Research Policy, 20, pp. 251-259, 1991.
3. Setfano Breschi et al,"Highly
Cited Patents, Highly Cited Publications, and Research Networks",
CESPRI-BOCCONI University, December 2006. (Quote from page 43).
4. Jenna Wortham, "Will
Other Bidders Emerge for Palm?", The New York Times, April 29,
2010.
5. I. Vonwartburg et al.,"Inventive progress measured by
multi-stage patent citation analysis", In Research Policy, Volume: 34, Issue:
10, Pages: 1591-1607. 2005.
6. Narin, F., and D. Olivastro, "Technology Indicators Based
on Patents and Patent Citations." In Handbook of Quantitative Studies of
Science and Technology. Holland: Elsevier Science Publishers B.V.
1988.
