Patent Law Practice Center

What the Media Doesn’t Know about Patents

Can we all agree that the rule of thumb for reading about patents on the Internet should be: if it sounds ridiculous, it is probably not true? Indeed, reading about patents in the popular press, or in most blogs, is practically useless. They get the truth so wrong, but still speak with such conviction that they can be convincing.  That should be self evident, but sadly it is not. Maybe we shouldn’t rely on patent information from those who are not patent experts. Especially, if they don’t particularly like patents and have an ax to grind.

Recently, an article about an Amazon patent came to my attention. The article proclaims that Amazon applied for and received a patent on the process for taking a picture against a white background. The article even included a link to verifying analysis from photographers who it seems would know, right? But what exactly do they know? Does a photograph understand patent law, or do they understand photography? Is understanding photography even enough to allow them to opine on photography patents?

Go ahead and answer. Say this out loud and see if it sounds right: “I should take patent advice from a photographer.” Might it sound better if you said: “I should take patent advice from a patent expert”? Yet, the media will listen to whoever offers an anti-patent viewpoint, even those who it seems don’t understand patents, and can’t be troubled to read more than the title of a patent, or perhaps the Abstract.

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