The History of U.S. Patents: The Tragedy of Innovation Brought to Xerox by Antitrust

Nanjing Hua News: Due to the government's opposition to patent monopoly, many American companies no longer regard patents as an important competitive tool, but as a waste of staggering production costs. During this period, patent rights are no longer used as offensive commercial tools. On the contrary, patents are largely seen as defensive legal shields, and their role is exactly equivalent to that of the nuclear arsenals of the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War: that is, they only have defensive functions and will never be used.

Xerox is one of the largest innovative companies in the United States. The company grew out of an epoch-making invention by Chester Carlson, a patent attorney and amateur inventor in New York City. In 1938, Carlson successfully produced the first electrostatic photocopy image in a simple laboratory in New York. He spent several years trying to sell the invention patent, but failed. However, at that time, the managers of large companies believed that carbon carbon paper had become popular and that there would be no market for photocopiers. Carlson contacted more than 20 companies, including IBM and General Electric, but none of them were interested in his invention. In 1944, Carlson received a grant from the Battelle Institute in Ohio to improve on what he called "electronic image reproduction technology.

In 1947, a Harroyd company in Rochester, New York, which produced photographic paper, was granted a patent license to develop and sell the copier invented by Carlson. Both Carlson and Harrow believe that the term "electronic image reproduction technology" is too obscure. So they changed it to "xerography (xerography) ". Another word, "Xerox" (Xerox), was coined by Harold as a trademark for the new copier, after which the company was renamed Xerox (1961). In 1948, a new copier product was brought to the market with great success. Xerox continued to innovate and produced automated office photocopiers that use plain paper. In the process of technological innovation, Xerox accumulated a large number of basic patents and controlled the copier market with patents.

In an era of extreme resistance to patents, Xerox was a rare exception. In 1975, Xerox was forced to sign an agreement under the order of the Federal Trade Commission, which required Xerox to provide patent licenses to all enterprises that needed electrostatic printing patents. As a result, a flood of lower-priced Japanese photocopiers called Tsunami have flooded the U.S. market. As a result, Xerox's leading position in the copier market quickly became history. Since signing the agreement, Xerox has been skeptical and indecisive when applying for any patent.

In 1970, Xerox founded the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), an important corporate research center of that era. Xerox's management created the most relaxed research environment for the research center. Bob Taylor (Bob Taylor), the director, used a flat organizational structure to create a vibrant research atmosphere, which attracted the best scientists in the United States at the time. Taylor said: "We only recruit people who have flames in their eyes." It is said that of the 100 best computer scientists in the United States at the time, 76 were at the center. The researchers at the research center are at odds with Xerox's old-fashioned corporate culture. They wear long hair, do not bathe, do not wear shoes to work, and hold weekly meetings in the so-called "bean bag room", where all participants use bean-stuffed pockets as cushions. With regular-breaking manners and grotesque shapes, the scientists at the center even appeared on the cover of (Rolling Stone) magazine.

Xerox created PARC for a simple reason, "Xerox and IBM are the only two big companies in the information industry. IBM occupies the market for manipulative data processing, and our specialty is to put information on paper." At the time, Xerox's CEO intended to create an "information architect" for the company's future, and he said ambitiously, "Sometime in the 1970 s, we will be able to say to large customers: 'Xerox can give you all the tools to process information. 'That includes data processors." Therefore, PARC put the research emphasis on the research of computer technology. Since then, a world-respected laboratory and a large number of great inventions have been closely linked with Xerox.

Until now, many people still believe that Xerox's PARC is a paradise for computer researchers. It has attracted a large number of physicists, engineers, computer developers, cognitive physiologists, sound engineers, mechanics, etc. from all over the world. Most researchers are temporary, and innovation is their only purpose. It is simply a "utopian kingdom of technology".

Many of the technologies that people use on a daily basis now come from PARC, and the practical significance of the results has gone far beyond the original vision of Xerox executives. The world's first personal computer Alto, personal distribution computing, graphical user interface with pull-down menu and window stacking function, the first commercial mouse, bit mapping display, Ethernet, C/S architecture, object-oriented process, voice compression Technology, WYSIWYG technology, expert system, laser printing technology, and many basic communication protocols on the Internet, information visualization technology, page description language, etc, this is a report card that makes everyone respect.

The Palo Alto Research Center has continuously created a large number of computer hardware, software and network innovations, but the agreement signed by Xerox under the orders of the Federal Trade Commission has delayed Xerox's future.

For example, as early as 1979, Xerox had invented the graphical user interface technology, but because of various considerations such as cost, it finally decided not to apply for a patent. Soon, the technology formed the basis of Apple's Macintosh and Microsoft's Windows personal computer operating systems. A researcher working on the invention at that time recalled: "all the colleagues working at PARC highly respected the graphical user interface, but the management turned a deaf ear to it-they were figures in the era of copiers." can't see how much opportunity there is for the small PC market at that time."

A Xerox patent lawyer said that Xerox had initially set itself to patent some of its graphical user interface technologies, including drop-down menus, pop-up dialog boxes and windows that can be changed in size. A very critical invention show vetoed the decision. Obviously, the 1975 Federal Trade Commission (FTC) agreement was a major factor in inhibiting the company's patent application, and Xerox itself underestimated the significance of the graphical user interface.

Of course, if Xerox had made the right decision at that time and applied for the graphical user interface patent right, even if it was conservatively estimated that only 1% of the sales volume would have been taken, Xerox would have received a patent license fee of US $0.5 billion from Macintosh and Windows operating system software between 1984 and 1998 (when the patent application period expired).