Patent reform just got sexy in the US Congress as politicians tout “innovation, not litigation, [a]s a bipartisan goal.” Hearing Economics did some foreshadowing of this trend based on recent patent fights in our little industry that didn’t go so well. New hearing device patent approvals for the last two months are shown in the table below. Click on Mar-April 2013, Jan-Feb 2013 and Nov-Dec 2012 for previous lists.
Three Big Issues
- There is a huge backlog of applications. The pipeline has been reduced to around 600,000, but the process remains painfully slow. Hearing aid innovations are not exceptions. As one reader of this column commented:
I find it amazing that many of these patents were filed over 4 years ago… Just goes to show how slow the process is, even for the Big Guns like Widex and Starkey.
- The patent office needs more funding to handle the onslaught of applications and ensure that they receive thorough scrutiny prior to approval.
- Patent Assertion Entities (PAEs), aka Patent Trolls, are turning the whole process upside down with an avalanche of expensive, frivolous lawsuits. As a result, the Trolls are coming under investigation by the FTC. As their name suggests, PAEs constantly troll the vast patent world for the dual purposes of scarfing up technology patents and then suing manufacturers/designers of devices/software for patent infringement. In the words of Edith Ramirez, FTC chairwoman:
A central empirical question, which we will continue to examine, is whether P.A.E.’s encourage invention or instead hamper innovation and competition.
Remedies
Better, faster patent analysis and approval are good remedies, although the cost of funding such a massive enterprise may price individuals out of the market.
The trolls are a different, much bigger form of Supply Side Shock, shifting manufacturers’ Supply curve to the left, meaning Willing to Sell decreases for a given price. This is not an economically desirable effect — prices tend to rise or consumption goes down. In economic parlance, trolls create market inefficiencies. Down with trolls!
Industries, countries and global regions have their own remedies for fighting trolls in order to protect resources and ensure stability, especially of prices. The main remedy is to circle the wagons and form a membership organization to share resources, not unlike OPEC’s response to giant multinational companies in the 1960s. Note that this remedy is another form of market inefficiency because Price and Quantity Supplied are controlled by suppliers of one type or another. No one said troll-fighters were pretty, or even much different looking than trolls.
The hearing aid industry has a remedy organization, known as Hearing Instrument Manufacturers Patent Partnership K/S HIMPP, which filed its first patent application in 1984 and now owns 66 patents in eight patent classes. It keeps a low profile. More on HIMPP in a later post.
The List
The list is populated by the Usual Suspects of global corporate competitors. But Daniel Schumaier, President of Ear Technology, once again makes the list as the sole individual seeking and obtaining a hearing device patent on every list we’ve compiled for 2013. Go Dan, the Man against the Machine!
| Description | Patent Number | Assignee | Filed | Issued |
| Methods and Systems for Reducing an Effect of Ambient Noise within an Auditory Prosthesis System | 8422706 | Advanced Bionics, LLC (Valencia, CA) | 9/10/2010 | 4/16/2013 |
| Method and Apparatus for Modular Hearing Aid | 8428282 | Starkey Laboratories, Inc. (Eden Prairie, MN) | 9/29/2008 | 4/23/2013 |
| Hearing instrument using receivers with different performance characteristics | 8433072 | Oticon A/S (Smorum, Denmark) and Bernafon AG (Berne, Switzerland) | 11/07/2008 | 4/30/2013 |
| Bone Conduction Devices Generating Tangentially-Directed Mechanical Force Using a Linearly Moving Mass | 8433081 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) | 3/05/2009 | 4/30/2013 |
| Calibrated hearing aid tuning appliance | 8437486 | Dan Wiggins (Edmonds, Wash.) and Donald L Bowie (Burien, Wash.) | 4/14/2010 | 5/07/2013 |
| Dual Microphone EAS System That Prevents Feedback | 8437859 | Advanced Bionics, LLC (Valencia, CA) | 9/03/2009 | 5/07/2013 |
| System and Method for Three Dimensional Reconstruction of an Anatomical Impression | 8437009 | Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd. (Singapore, SG) |
6/22/2010 |
5/07/2013 |
| Hearing Aid | 8442253 | Brainstorm Audio LLC (Dover, Del.) | 1/20/2012 | 5/14/2013 |
| Hearing aid system comprising a matched filter and a measurement method | 8442247 | Bernafon AG (Berne, Switzerland) | 12/10/2008 | 5/14/2013 |
| Electromagnet battery handler | 8438723 | William A Reinman (Modesto, Calif.) and Edward S. Heyman (Modesto, Calif.) | 4/01/2011 | 5/14/2013 |
| Systems and methods for managing wireless communication links for hearing assistance devices | 8442248 | Starkey Laboratories Inc. (Eden Prairie, Minn.) |
9/02/2009 |
5/14/2013 |
| Hearing aid device and hearing aid method | 8442246 | Panasonic Corp. (Osaka, Japan) | 4/26/2010 | 5/14/2013 |
| Hearing device with automatic algorithm switching | 8442245 | Siemens Medical Instruments Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) | 12/22/2009 | 5/14/2013 |
| Hearing aid and method for controlling signal processing in a hearing aid | 8442250 | Widex A/S (Lynge, Denmark) | 9/26/2008 | 5/14/2013 |
| Behind-the-ear hearing aid with interchangeable ear hook and ear tube | 8442252 | Audiotoniq Inc. (Austin, Texas) |
9/30/2010 |
5/14/2013 |
| Hearing Aid | 8442253 | Brainstorm Audio LLC (Dover, Del.) | 1/20/2012 | 5/14/2013 |
| Electromagnet battery handler | 8438723 | William A Reinman (Modesto, Calif.) and Edward S. Heyman (Modesto, Calif.) | 4/01/2011 | 5/14/2013 |
| Electroneural Interface for a Medical Implant | 8447409 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) | 10/15/2009 | 5/21/2013 |
| Entrainment Avoidance with a Gradient Adaptive Lattice Filter | 8452034 | Starkey Laboratories, Inc. (Eden Prairie, MN) |
10/23/2007 |
5/28/2013 |
| Real ear measurement system using thin tube | 8452021 | Starkey Laboratories, Inc. (Eden Prairie, MN) |
4/14/2008 |
5/28/2013 |
| Measurement of Transmitter/Receiver Separation | 8452412 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) |
9/04/2003 |
5/28/2013 |
| Electrode Assembly for a Stimulating Medical Device | 8452411 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) |
6/10/2011 |
5/28/2013 |
| Lead Insertion Tools | 8452421 | Advanced Bionics, LLC (Valencia, CA) |
7/8/2010 |
5/28/2013 |
| Environment adaptive type hearing aid | 8457335 | Panasonic Corp. (Osaka, Japan) |
6/25/2008 |
6/04/2013 |
| Open ear canal hearing aid with adjustable non-occluding securing mechanism | 8457337 | Aria Innovations Inc. (Palo Alto, Calif.) | 7/21/2010 | 6/04/2013 |
| Contamination Resistant Ports for Hearing Devices | 8457336 | InSound Medical, Inc. (Newark, CA) |
6/18/2010 |
6/04/2013 |
| Anchoring Element | 8454668 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) | 5/21/2008 | 6/04/2013 |
| Hearing aid and method of controlling volume of hearing aid | 8462957 | Panasonic Corp. (Osaka, Japan) | 2/17/2010 | 6/11/2013 |
| Shared coil for inductive charging and hearing-aid-compliance requirements in mobile phones | 8462968 | Research in Motion Ltd. (Waterloo, Ontario, Canada |
6/18/2010 |
6/11/2013 |
| Ear Fitting | 8462973 | L. Gore & Associates Inc. (Newark, Del.) |
5/17/2010 |
6/11/2013 |
| Systems and methods for own voice recognition with adaptations for noise robustness | 8462969 | Siemens Audiologische Technik GmbH (Erlangen, Germany) |
4/19/2011 |
6/11/2013 |
| Apparatus and method for connecting a hearing aid to hearing aid test equipment | 8467537 | Audiology Innovations Pty Ltd (Australia) |
5/24/2007 |
6/18/2013 |
| Canal hearing device with disposable battery module | 8467556 | Ihear Medical Inc. (Oakland, Calif.) |
9/09/2010 |
6/18/2013 |
| Hearing aid system comprising a receiver in the ear and a system for identification of the type of receiver
|
8467553 | Bernafon AG (Berne, Switzerland) |
6/25/2010 |
6/18/2013 |
| Method, hearing device and configuration for calibrating an acoustic tuning system | 846755 | Siemens Medical Instruments PTE, Ltd. |
11/20/2010 |
6/18/2013 |
| Method for monitoring a hearing device and hearing device with self-monitoring function | 8467555 | Phonak AG |
4/18/2011 |
6/18/2013 |
| Tinnitus rehabilitation device and method | 8465411 | Neuromonics Pty Ltd |
11/5/2010 |
6/18/2013 |
| Audio processing | 8472655 | Koninkluke Philips Electronics N.V. |
6/17/2009 |
6/25/2013 |
| Observer-based cancellation system for implantable hearing instruments | 8472654 | Cochlear Limited (Macquarie University, NSW, AU) |
10/30/2007 |
6/25/2013 |
| Preprogrammed hearing assistance device with audiometric testing capability | 8472634 | Daniel R Schumaier (Elizabethton, Tenn) |
3/03/2010 |
6/25/2013 |
editor’s note: The Patent Series is updated every two months. Click links for patents approved in Jan/Feb 2014, Nov/Dec 2013, September/October 2013, Jul/Aug 2013, May/Jun 2013, Mar/Apr 2013, Jan/Feb 2013, Nov/Dec 2012
photo courtesy of nytimes
