Ride the Lightning

Recommind Does Have a Predictive Coding Patent, But for How Long?

June 13, 2011

Recommind has done a really good job painting a bullseye on its corporate chest.

First, it wrote a press release which was so self-congratulatory that it rated higher than usual on the press release barf factor, which is pretty doggone high to begin with.

The thinly veiled threat implied in the press release became more explicit and ugly when Craig Carpenter, the General Counsel and VP or Marketing, spoke up. In a Law.com article, he noted that, while suing everyone made no business sense,  license negotations for those who want to use predictive coding would last a matter of weeks, not months before Recommind decides what to do. "What to do" generally means filing suit and that was the clear implication.

No one can deny that the patent was granted. But as Catalyst CEO John Tredennick has commented, "The fact that people get patents isn't the end of the story." Ain't it the truth. The U.S. Patent Office has granted some very peculiar software and business process patents in the past. Recommind's patent (and there may be subsequent patents broadening and deepening the first one, according to Recommind), will almost certainly be challenged by its competitors – what choice will they have?

I personally agree with John Tredennick that this technology has been decades in the making – it is likely to be challenged as not being novel or and as being obvoius. And I've yet to talk to anyone who doesn't think the patent will fall.

In the meantime, Recommind's strategy has made the company look arrogant, greedy and like a schoolyard bully. Not a well-played hand.

E-mail:        Phone: 703-359-0700

www.senseient.com

http://twitter.com/sharonnelsonesq