IBM's Modifies Strategy to Incorporate Peer Review

In the article “Innovative IBM has a Drive to Invent”, Jason Starr of the Essex Reporter discusses the method in which an IBM facility in Essex Junction provides a model of innovation and efficiency with a shift to openness. In order to attain the goal of remaining innovative and cost efficient, Starr remarks that the inventors in Essex Junction are “realizing [that] patenting is not the only way to benefit from their innovations” and have instead decided to designate certain inventions to be “published directly to the Internet for everyone to see.” The article further illustrates that IBM remains an active participant in patent reform debates by supporting the 2007 Supreme Court KSR v Teleflex decision “that made it easier for the U.S. Patent Office to reject patent applications as obvious, making it more difficult to obtain a United States patent.” Starr further notes IBM’s advocacy of programs, like Peer-to-Patent, to aid in patent reviewer efficiency.