IP CloseUp, weekly perspective on intellectual property trends and business, broke through 392,000 views and 272,000 visits in 2023, on its way to 400,000 plus total views 300,000 plus visits in 2024.
The top three for posts for 2023 were:
- “Kearn Son Still Fuming Over Wiper Blade Fight”
- “Latest Data Show that Intangible Assets Comprise 90% of the Value of the S&P 500 Companies”
- “List of 140 Leading African American Inventors Honors Their Legacy and Black History’s.”
“Kearns” has generated over 106,500 views, the most on IPCU, dating back to 2014, and 2,738 in 2023. Total 2023 blog views exceeded 33,000.
Flash of Google Search
The Kearn success is due in no small part to the movie “Flash of Genius” which deals with the tragic Kearns litigation against Ford and the other automakers over the intermittent windshield wiper, which he invented and they allegedly stole.
People see the movie on Netflix, Apple TV or one of the streaming platforms, and go looking for the backstory on Google Search. IPCU offers the most comprehensive and accurate background available on the iconic narrative including the literary source, a fascinating article in The New Yorker.
Few are aware that Kearns served in the Office of Strategic Services, forerunner to the CIA and taught at Michigan’s Wayne State University.
IPCU readers still comment to me about the awful period of invention history Dr. Kearns and his family were forced to live through. These readers fail to realize is that the conditions for inventors today are far worse than for Kearns. An infringed patent holder is unlikely to get past the Patent Trial and Appeal Board with their suit. Trials cost more and holdout greater.
The movie is more appealing than the mediocre 62% rating it receives on Rotten Tomatoes. It may not be great cinema but is is a compelling story, well told with good acting.
Alan Alda plays a kindly litigator who tells Kearns to accept the settlement money offered. Alda says something to the effect that “Ford will outspend you to your grave.” Kearns wanted Ford to admit it stole his invention. They never did. Nor did the other carmakers.
The New Yorker article on which “Flash of Genius” is based is good reading and available for free at the link in this in this sentence.
Read in 141 Countries
IPCU was read in 141 counties in 2023, with the U.S. the clear leader. The UK, India, Canada and Germany follow. Japan and China are number 9 and 10. There have been an average of 50 posts a year since 2015. The blog also runs summaries and links to “Understanding IP Matters,” the Center for Intellectual Property’s (CIPU’s) top-3 rated IP podcast, here.
Thank You, Readers
To regular IP CloseUp readers and subscribers, LinkedIn members and Twitter followers – thank you for your support. Thanks, too, to those who tweet and otherwise share IPCU on social media. And a hardy shoutout to our sources and guest contributors.
Platforms where you can find IP CloseUp include:
LinkedIn (Bruce Berman): https://www.linkedin.com/company/11041749/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/centerforip/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CenterforIP
Reader comments are encouraged — We like hearing from you!
Subscribe on IPCloseUp.com (on right side of the home page about half way down) or find us it on Twitter.
If you follow Bruce Berman on LinkedIn, you can find weekly summaries there and gain access to articles.
IPCU’s partner, “Understanding IP Matters,” now in its third season, can be found here as well as on on the CIPU’s website, www.understandingip.org.
See you in 2024!
Image source: RogerE.bert.com; newyorker.com
ipcloseup.com 