Saturday, May 3, 2014
Assignment 12, Blog Post 2: Experience integrating Social Media in the Class
Prompt: Please talk about your experience of using social
media tools for learning, how you used the blog, YouTube, and comments, how
they are different from traditional learning tools, what is the value of using
these tools, and how you can do it even better.
I learned so much from interacting with others, and thus, I
really enjoyed the interactive component of this class. We learn so much from
our peers. Also, overtime, I got comfortable with talking in front of the
webcam and making videos of the material. I enjoy filming myself in general, so
I also really liked that aspect of the class. I thought it was really nice to
have the online component paired with the offline component (discussions in
class). I also think that listening to other student’s videos allowed us to get
to know other students and their interests better, and this also facilitated
having the conversations in class. Social media is convenient because it allows
people to be in different places at different times and still communicate
effectively. I do think I spent a lot of time doing the blogs and making them
detailed. I think something that I can improve on is tying concepts from
different blogs together. I did do that several times (such as with
evergreening of pharmaceuticals), but finding more connections would be nice. I
really hope everyone enjoys reading my blog, because I sure enjoyed reading
everyone else's blogs! J
Good luck on finals everyone!
Assignment 12, Blog Post 1: Experience in the Class
Prompt: Please describe your experience in the class, what
you learned, why this is important to you, what is the value, and in general,
how the knowledge from this class would help you in the future.
I really enjoyed this class! After my undergraduate
education, I want to go into industry for a bit, and I feel that it gave me a unique
perspective on industry and the competition that takes place over inventions. I
feel that I could not have learned about this in as much detail in my other
classes, and thus, taking a class geared towards patents was extremely
insightful. I do hope to invent medical devices (or be part of a team that does
so), and thus knowing how to file for a patent, what can be patented, and how
the entire system works is very useful. I know for a fact that all the
knowledge that I learned in this class is not going to go to waste, but I also
need to be proactive in keeping up with changes in the system. Since I am
interested in the medical devices/ biotech area, I want to also learn more
about FDA regulations. Thanks so much for a great semester!
Assignment 11, Blog Post 2: Silly Patents-- Hands Free Towel Carrying System
The second silly patent I want to talk about is the Hands
Free Towel Carrying System. Here is a brief description:
“A towel of a generally rectangular configuration comprised of
an absorbent material has a loose end, a parallel coupling end, a pair of side
edges and a generally cylindrical neck loop comprised of an elastomeric
material.”[1]
Here are some images:
On the patent, it says that the reason (or more
appropriately, motivation) to have a hands free towel carrying system is to
prevent loss, theft, and contamination. I feel that perhaps this invention
could be useful for someone who goes swimming regularly, and doesn’t want to
lose his or her towel. And I do also understand the contamination problem,
since a large towel is used to wipe all areas of the body and you definitely do
not want to share your towel with a stranger! But I do think that there are
other easier ways to solve these problems! For example, you can just get a
really unique towel with an interesting color pattern. That would also make
your life less bland J
And personally, I would get annoyed of having a towel hanging around my neck
like that, because I would imagine that it would get kind of heavy after a
while. Plus, when would one need this? Definitely not at one’s house. Maybe at
the beach or swimming pool? I am not sure if there would be a social stigma of
carrying a towel like that at the beach. I feel that all these factors need to
be taken into account, because there is no point in inventing something if
nobody is going to use it. This patent also talks about prior art as if the
inventor is attempting to prove that this exact system has not been invented
before. Also interestingly, this patent was published in 2004—wow! I can’t
believe it took so long for somebody to come up with such a simple system. [1] Let’s
look at the criteria now:
Non-obviousness: Hmm…personally, I found this pretty
obvious. Normally, if people want to carry their towel with no hands, they just
throw it around their neck. This is doing something similar, but with something
that looks more like a necklace.
Novelty: I think this could be debatable. I’m sure something
similar must have been thought about before. In fact, in the top picture, it
almost looks like a dress! (some dresses are designed very similarly).
Enablement: I honestly just can’t see a lot of people
buying this, because there isn’t a huge need for this. Even during the time I
was a swimmer, I haven’t heard too many people complain about losing their
towels or worrying about contamination.
Usefulness: Yes, it is useful because it does what it
says it does!
[1] https://www.google.com/patents/US6718554?dq=6718554&hl=en&sa=X&ei=g2JlU8amF8fI8gHhooC4Dw&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAA
Assignment 11, Blog Post 1: Silly Patents- Device for the Treatment of Hiccups
The first silly patent that I want to talk about is titled,
“Device for the treatment of hiccups”. The patent number is US 7062320 B2. I
was interested in this because it had a biological aspect to it. This device
treats hiccups by “galvanic stimulation of the Perficial Phrenetic and Vagus
nerves using an electric current”. In the background portion of the patent, the
inventor mentions that the invention relates not just to a method and an apparatus
for the treatment. The reason why I though this patent is so crazy is because
everyone knows that hiccups go away after drinking water. So this got me
thinking what causes hiccups? My guess was that a lack of sufficient water
intake may cause hiccups, but I decided to check WebMD to see what they had to
say. According to WebMD, “A very full stomach can cause bouts of hiccups that
go away on their own. A full stomach can be caused by: Eating too much food too
quickly, drinking too much alcohol, swallowing too much air, smoking, a sudden
change in stomach temperature, emotional stress or excitement”. [2] Anyways,
that is beside the point—I just thought it was pretty interesting. The point is
that age-old cure for hiccups is so simple and natural. In modern society
(unless we are in the desert), it is so easy to find water. And usually hiccups
go away right after you drink a couple sips. When I was young, one of my
childhood friends told me that when I get hiccups, I should take a sip of water
with my head in between my legs (so upside down)—and for the longest time I
believed that and followed diligently.
Let’s see if this patent falls can be considered a valid
patent based on the criteria:
Non-obvious: This would also get a pass. It definitely is
not the obvious way of curing hiccups!
Novelty: I would give this a pass, as I don’t believe this
has been thought of or implemented before.
Enablement: I don’t think many people would buy this! It
wouldn’t do so well in industry, because people would probably be more afraid
of getting shocked than
Usefulness: Well, first of all, let’s just assume this works
and does in fact cure hiccups. Then, it is useful, but I don’t know how many
people would actually use it. Look’s like the biggest problem we have here is
enablement!
[1] https://www.google.com/patents/US7062320?dq=7062320&hl=en&sa=X&ei=VhVkU_bMKsO98gH0kIHICg&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAA
[2] http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/tc/hiccups-topic-overview
Friday, May 2, 2014
Assignment 10: Blog Post 1: Public Health and Patents
There
is a general debate on whether patents are incentivizing or hurting innovation
in various industries. Here, I want to focus on medical care, including
pharmaceuticals and medical devices. It is well known that developing drugs
requires a large amount of investment from long term research and expensive
clinical trials. So what incentivizes the development of drugs, other than the
desire and need to treat and cure diseases? Some would say it is the protection
offered by patents that allows pharma companies to gain a financial return on
their investments. However, there is another side to the story, as some argue
that patents are holding back medical research, since researchers can no longer
access patented materials or methods. Another con due to patents is that they
are responsible for the increased prices of essential medicines in developing
countries.
I
read an article that was published in January 2010 by E. Richard Gold, et al.
In both high and low income countries, existing patents increase the cost of
medicines. But what about other services, such as diagnostics? For other
services, is usually depends on whether the newly patented medicines turn out
to be cheaper than those that are existing or not. Overall, the patent system
has resulted in a huge increase in healthcare costs and decreasing levels of
innovation. Overall healthcare costs are increasing rapidly, but the fastest
growing sector of these costs are pharmaceutical products. A shockingly
surprising fact is that "the cost of developing new medicine from
discovery through clinical trials appears to double every decade. Yet, …
industry is producing fewer new drugs every year of which a declining
percentage is truly innovative"[1]. As I mentioned in my earlier blog post
with drug patent evergreening, many new patents are just on small changes to
existing drugs. It is essential to find a balance between the rights of patent
owners and the general public needs. Patents in the public health arena are
really interesting because the financial incentives provided by patents is not enough
to assure that products in areas such as neglected diseases will be pursued [2].
What changes do you think need to be implemented in the patent system to
account for this?
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