Defending Innovation

July 8, 2003

In 1994, having grown to more than $1 billion in annual revenue, Cisco began a formalized program aimed at building a substantial patent portfolio. Today, Cisco files more than 700 patents annually. The Cisco portfolio has surpassed 1,000 issued patents, and more than 2,700 Cisco applications are pending U.S. Patent Office review.

News@Cisco recently talked with Robert Barr, vice president of intellectual property and worldwide patent counsel for Cisco, regarding the company's patent strategy and its vital importance in sustaining innovation at Cisco.

Why are patents important for continued innovation at Cisco?

Robert Barr: Cisco is recognized worldwide for helping create the Internet as it exists today and changing the way people communicate. There's no doubt that Cisco is a highly innovative company. By innovative, I mean that Cisco excels at transforming new ideas into services and products that customers need to improve the productivity of their businesses. Patents help protect the right to innovate at Cisco. By capturing and patenting new ideas that emerge, Cisco has more freedom to develop new technologies that can be transformed into value-added products for customers.

Do patents stimulate innovation at Cisco?

Robert Barr: Patents don't stimulate innovation, they capture and protect innovation. My experience at Cisco is that the ability to get patents is not what inspires new developments. Instead, competition has been the major stimulus of innovation at Cisco. Our engineering teams are motivated by the desire to quickly turn their ideas into products and services that customers want, solutions that will help our customers improve their productivity. They don't ask "can we patent this?" before deciding whether to create new solutions. But they do understand the importance of obtaining patents to protect design freedom and prevent slavish copying of our products.

What are some of the most important patents issued to Cisco inventors over the years?

Robert Barr: Cisco has a number of key routing and switching patents and is developing a very strong portfolio in growth markets like storage, voice, and security. For two years in a row, MIT's Technology Review ranked Cisco's patents in the top three in terms of technical impact in the computing field.

What does Cisco look for in submitting ideas for patents to the U.S. Patent Office?

Robert Barr: Cisco's patent process emphasizes quality and strategic value. In addition, the company's aim is to create a large portfolio for cross licensing. Our patent review teams of Senior Engineers, Cisco Fellows, and Distinguished Engineers review each idea submitted to CPOL (Cisco Patents On Line). Only the top 40 percent of these ideas are approved for filing the U.S. Patent Office.

Does Cisco use its patents as a source of revenue?

Robert Barr: Cisco makes money by selling products and services, not by licensing its patents. We use our patents to support and protect our business, not as a business in itself.

Does Cisco encourage the incorporation of its patents into Industry Standards?

Robert Barr: Cisco is in a unique position because so many of our inventions apply to networking interoperability. Customers want interoperability between network products. We support the standards-setting processes of the IEEE, ITU, IETF and other standards organizations and consortiums and we are gratified that our intellectual property is used in many industry standards. While Cisco reserves the right to use its patents defensively if necessary, we do not demand royalties for patents that are used in industry standards.

What is innovative about Cisco's approach to patents?

Robert Barr: For any patent program to succeed, companies must make it exceptionally easy for engineers to submit new patent ideas. In 1994, Cisco launched Cisco Patents Online (CPOL), an automated, Web-based system that manages and tracks initial idea submission, internal review, and the progress of the patent application through the U.S. Patent Office. CPOL represents the latest patent process management technology and was a collaborative development effort between the ITD Engineering Information Framework group and the legal patent team. CPOL has become an industry showpiece for how to streamline the patent application process using the Web.