Right now, the state of innovation in the global economy is strong. People all over the world love and praise creativity. Marketers, educators, corporations, and governments promote it as the only solution to survival and prosperity. Consumer feelings towards a specific product are catalyzed, which makes them purchase it and add to the swings in the GDP of their nation's economy.
To that end, a patent bolsters the invention process because it offers the best incentive to inventors to create something new and valuable. It is also the only guarantee that inventors and their financial backers will recover and profit from the money and time they invest. Even consumers claim that patents are mandatory for promoting creativity.
What is patenting
So, what is patenting? What does it involve? A patent is granting property right to an inventor by the appropriate authority. This grant provides the inventor exclusive rights to the patented process, design, or invention for a predetermined period in return for an inclusive disclosure of the said invention. To be precise, a patent is a form of incorporeal right.
Usually, government agencies manage and approve patent applications. In America , the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) oversees patent applications and grants approvals. It is a part of the Department of Commerce.
Most patents remain valid for up to 20 years from the date of application filed with the USPTO. Of course, there are situations where exceptions are made to extend the term. United States patents are valid only within the country and United States Territories. If the inventor needs protection for their invention outside of America, he/she must research the intellectual property rights of other nations and apply for a patent with their governing authorities.
What is GPS
Global Positioning Systems (GPS) is a space-based satellite navigation system that provides time and location information in any weather condition anywhere on the Earth or close to the planet as long as there aren't any obstructions between the receiver and four or more GPS satellites. The system bestows powerful abilities upon the military, apart from serving several civil and commercial uses. Maintained by the government of the United States, it is freely accessible to anyone with a GPS receiver.
The entire navigation system consists of 24 satellites placed into orbit by the United States Department of Defense. The primary objective of GPS was to aid the military, but in the 1980s, the government made it available for civilian use.
The correlation between GPS & patenting
GPS patents are the exclusive rights bestowed upon the inventors of GPS technologies and GPS vehicle tracker devices by the United States Government. Patents prevent other parties and individuals from producing, commercializing, or selling the products for a specific time frame. GPS has become profoundly more advanced due to so many patented inventions. Here are some of the most noteworthy ones.
- Multi-functional - Some units have additional functions, such as e-readers and MP3 players.
- Touchscreen - Modern GPS car tracking devices have touchscreen capability. With just one button, they are simple enough to use for anyone.
- Fewer dead zones - With 32 fully-operational satellites instead of the initial 24, only a few dead zones are left in the world.
- Better communication - Using high-powered inter-atmospheric transmitters has improved communications between control stations and satellites.
How consumers benefit from patented technology
Some people believe that a strong patent harms consumers, while others claim that a powerful patent inhibits innovation. However these concepts can't be further from the truth.
Consumers benefit the most when patents are the strongest and act to block actors. Blocked competitors can't copy and flood the market with cheap knock-offs or duplicate products. Additionally, the existence of strong patents ensures competitors are blocked. Besides, incremental innovation is not always possible. If all a copycat does is put a slight slant on a patented product, the underlying patent will capture the individual's actions as infringement.
Strong patents never deter innovators. In fact, they inspire innovators to innovate in more grandiose ways. While strong patents ward off wrongdoers, there are still those who use these patented ideas and create their own products. Just because the product or service is new for someone does not mean it is novel for everyone. Also, if a copycat infringes an existing patented technology, he/she is not contributing anything to society's knowledge.
When one player in the market acquires a strong patent position associated with a desirable product or service, others must respond. Otherwise, they will lose their market share. Indeed, gaining market share is difficult, but it is much easier to lose it. Strong patent rights force technology companies to work constantly to test their limits and improve. Weak patents, on the other hand, bring nothing but baseless and banal innovation.
Vyncs is patented
Vyncs, a brand highly recognized and revered in the States, is a patented product. It has over twenty-five years of research and development in connected car technology and data science to back it up. The work originated from the early research on vehicle telematics data management and analysis in collaboration with Daimler-Chrysler in 1996 when the co-founder of Vyncs, Dr. Hillol Kargupta, was at the United States Los Alamos National Laboratory. The work continued, and the technology improved with time, evolving with several patents, such as US Patent 7715961 and 8478514.
Patent No. 8478514
This patent, held by Dr. Hillol Kargupta, improves upon the methods and systems of GPS by utilizing mobile and distributed data stream mining algorithms for mining continuously generated data from the different components of a vehicle.
So stay safe by using reliable, patented technology such as Vyncs to protect not only your car, but also you and your family.
Sources
- https://ipwatchdog.com/2015/11/24/theory-patents-strong-patents-benefit-consumers/id=61341/
- https://www.wipo.int/wipo_magazine/en/2014/06/article_0002.html
- https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/patent.asp
- https://www.civilsimplified.com/resources/what-is-gps
- https://www.upcounsel.com/gps-patents#:~:text=technologies%20and%20devices.-,GPS%20patents%20refer%20to%20the%20exclusive%20rights%20that%20the%20United,for%20a%20specific%20time%20frame.
- https://patents.google.com/patent/US8478514B2/en?oq=8478514
- https://patents.google.com/patent/US5379224A/en