Yesterday, I posted on therodinhoods.wpengine.com about an idea called RIO describing it as a “social charity widget”.
This is the first page of a PPT that was part of that post:
All hell broke lose on the use of the words “IP of Alok ‘Rodinhood’ Kejriwal” as seen above.
Two comments are produced below:
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Alok,
Been online after many days, and while I really love the RIO thingy, I had seen this many many months before, and would like to play a devil’s advocate, and ask you how RIO is different.
https://www.freakonomics.com/2011/02/23/does-swipegood-lead-to-more-…
https://lifehacker.com/5720351/swipegood-donates-your-loose-change-t…
(dated: 2010)
https://techcrunch.com/tag/swipegood/
Would love to hear 😛
Bestttt,
Nisarg
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It’s NOT IN INDIA.
Makes sense???
Baba, it does. But, that is why the “I really love the RIO thingy”.
Was just not clear if it was different except for its locale. Coz it says “Rodinhood IP”! And, I have begun expecting only the best from you !!
But, I wish you make it a great product! It is a great concept, and very much needed in the Indian context 🙂
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Godaddy is using it for so long of which you are also a customer. I am not sure what kind of IP it is of yours. It is just making a widget of a feature you saw on a site who use very frequently.
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The comments I got within minutes of posting yesterday’s blog is actually the inspiration of this blog.
I want to understand: WHY do we Indians get so defensive when it comes to the word Intellectual Property?
Why don’t we use IP with aggression? Why don’t we make claims of owning it?
Is it that we are afraid of claiming something that “already exists” , OR that it will be the case for a counter claim?
Or simply said – do we NOT understand what IP really IS?
A month ago, I got a call from a good friend who was quite shaken up. He mentioned that he had received a legal notice from Zynga (Makers of Farmville, Cityville) demanding that he WITHDRAW a game that he had just launched in the Apps Market that had a phrase similar to ‘Words with Friends’
Why? Because Zynga claimed it had a very popular game by the same name, and that they had ‘filed’ for copyrights, patents etc.
Zynga did not cite any actual Patent or Copyright! They just said that they owned a game that was a leader in its category and hence my friend’s similar sounding game would confuse the market place!
Funny, because Zynga’s Farmville is a RIP OFF of a very popular game from China and then RE-INVENTED.
The way I see it:
– First, let’s learn to CELEBRATE Creativity and Originality.
That does not mean that because the IDEA has been done before (in the case of my RIO widget or Zynga), that there cannot be ADDITIONAL Intellectual Creation on that Idea!!
Angry Birds is based on a very famous and successful flash game called Castle Crushers as far as I remember.
(This is what the CEO of Angry Birds says in this interview)
CEO : “….the inspiration probably came from other games — Angry Birds definitely has a mixture of games in it. The most important part inspiration-wise for us, were the characters…..”
BUT Rovio (the makers of Angry Birds) INVENTED brand new game playing mechanics, scoring ideas and most importantly, the characters and storyline of Birds that were Angry and made history!
So, if you can ADD VALUE to a great idea, you can CERTAINLY CLAIM IP!
It’s an Intellectual HIGH! Why deny yourself?
As a nation, we must take PRIDE in claiming what we believe is ORIGINAL. Let others prove to us that it is not.
– Copyright and Trademarks ARE NOT the only form of IP
So, if I rename some random game of mine and call it ‘Angry Birds’, sure I am violating Rovio’s COPYRIGHT IP.
Simply said, Rovio has built a great brand associated with the name ‘Angry Birds’ and I cannot PASTE that on any game to take advantage of the same.
It’s a copyright and trademark violation.
BUT, like Angry Birds took inspiration from other games, and created a brand new set of characters and personality around the innovation, it also means that ALL OF US can CREATE ON TOP OF IP and fire up our OWN IP!
– Business Process is also IP!
If you can INVENT a new way of doing business that already exists, sure enough, you are creating IP!
There are so many live processes around us that SUCK.
Between us, we can think of a zillion ways of making regular, “has been happening” old boring stuff and TRANSFORMING IT to a new, easy-to-use and hence successful invention.
Example – If I can now PRINT out my Boarding Pass on my PC and use it to board a plane (instead of wasting time standing to get it), THAT IS A BUSINESS PROCESS IP invention that has happened!
To add more fuel to the fire, if the same online Boarding pass is now mailed to me and I can SHOW IT AT CHECK-IN (like I see people doing so all the time in India and the US), then I say that Airlines have created a BUSINESS PROCESS invention in allowing passengers to check-in with their mobile phones and not waste their time and energy printing stuff.
So, the process of making business better is surely IP.
– PATENTS AND LEGAL MUMBO JUMBO
The out and out disclaimer I am stating here is that I use the words IP LOOSELY.
It may NOT be worthy of Patents.
Claims of owning Intellectual Property in some of the cases above may NOT pass the Courts of Law.
BUT, as an Indian, I ENCOURAGE Entrepreneurs to DREAM of IP – of inventing ideas, innovations and business processes. And to have the guts and glory to THINK of it as IP – because they have ADDED something unique in it; who gives a damn if it’s patent worthy or not?!!
Once we BEGIN to THINK in terms of IP – we WILL CREATE IP.
In the same vein, I hope to prove that my RIO widget is ALSO IP. God be on my side…
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p.s – I am NOT an expert on this subject. If you are or have experience in this domain, please share the same for the benefit of the readers. Think of this as the post to begin a conversation on this topic.