Velvin Hogan, who played the part of jury foreman and de facto patent expert in the… 3


Velvin Hogan, who played the part of jury foreman and de facto patent expert in the recently concluded trial segment of the Apple-Samsung patent saga spoke with Brian Bishop of +The Verge. According to Hogan, juries cannot change the change the patent system, only public opinion can do that. I believe Hogan is wrong and this jury sacrificed a prime opportunity to make a difference.

In theory, public opinion should be able to change the system, but given the corporatocracy we live in today, opinions are unlikely to have any real effect anytime soon. Juries on the other hand do have the power to have some real immediate impact. If the jury in this case had actually taken the time to more thoroughly examine the patents in question rather than hammering their way through the 700+ questions on the verdict form, it's possible they might have come to a different decision on the validity of the patents.

Juries do actually have the power to change the system by invalidating patents. If that happens often enough, we might see companies file fewer patents and fewer suits. 

Apple v. Samsung jury foreman: only the ‘court of popular opinion’ can change the patent system
When the Apple v. Samsung jury handed in its $1.049 bilion verdict last week, the man that delivered the form itself was jury foreman Velvin Hogan. We recently spoke with the 67-year-old engineer,…

Post imported by Google+Blog for WordPress.


Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

3 thoughts on “Velvin Hogan, who played the part of jury foreman and de facto patent expert in the…