SPA 2007: Patenting may become useful for proprietary structured products

By Sheri Kasprzak

New York, March 27 - In an industry where competition is squeezing profits, patenting may become important for proprietary products to avoid litigation down the road, said Richard Weisberg of the U.S. Patent Office at the Structured Products Association's conference Tuesday.

"Why patent?" Weisberger asked. "Monopolistic pricing. Everybody's competing on price."

Also, Weisberger said, there are advantages in terms of strengthening branding and advertising, and when cross-licensing products, a patent will ward off infringement lawsuits by making it clear what are proprietary and protected ideas before any deals start coming to market.

"It should be observed that when you've gotten a black eye, you want to prevent getting a black eye," he said.

Even though the vast majority of proprietary structured products are not patented, there is a trend towards patenting, Weisberger said.

"There are currently more than 6,400 finance-related patents pending," he added.

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