Mar
4
Michigan’s strong patent market
Posted by Dirk Avery at 5:37 pm under Innovation, Patent.
I go to the University of Michigan Law School. Ann Arbor, as a university town, is shielded a little from an otherwise awful state economy. However, innovation and patents are helping to bring things back. Sven Gustafson on MLive writes:
The auto industry may be bleeding money throughout Michigan, but it is fueling a rise in innovation in the state, federal data on patent activity shows.
The rise in patent applications by Michigan-based companies in recent years is proving to be a boon for patent-law firms, which are seeing rising business from the automotive industry and related technology sectors…
The state saw a 20 percent rise in the numbers of patents granted between 2000 and 2006, the years for which the most recent data is available, compared with the seven-year 1993-1999 period, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
The state is among the leaders in intellectual-property protection. The 3,758 patents granted to individuals or companies in Michigan in 2006 trailed the number granted in only Massachusetts, California, New York and Texas. For the period stretching from 1963 through 2006, Michigan’s 123,595 U.S. patents trailed the number granted in only six states: California, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas…
[P]atent applications in areas such as hybrid technology, vehicle safety and electronics are helping drive annual revenue increases of 20 percent or more…
[I]nnovation is becoming increasingly important in the highly competitive auto industry, especially in vehicle software, said David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor.
“One of the things it reflects is the reality that you have to invest,” he said… “It’s innovate or die…”
Another trend is overseas auto suppliers setting up sales operations in Michigan, only to discover the area’s rich engineering talent.