PATENTS & LICENSES -- Covering Their Assets

Patent Potential

That's not to say Pflug is down on patents in general. "We are actively reviewing our intellectual property strategy, and we believe there are elements of our technology that are potentially patentable.

"Philosophically, I would say patents are a good thing because they provide incentive for companies like ours to invent new things that have commercial value," he continues. "On the other hand, I'm not completely convinced the patent office (U.S. Patent and Trademark Office) is in a position, particularly with regard to the printing industry, to tell what's truly innovative and what is not. What we all want is to encourage research and development, but we don't want to get into a situation where very generic, common processes in some way or another get patent approval."