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ARTICLE · 23 MAY 2013

IP for free?: a 'quirky' idea that reinvents innovation

Corrs Chambers Westgarth
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Companies are choosing to make their patents freely available to the public, to provide inspiration to future inventors.

AustraliaIntellectual Property
Frances Wheelahan
Frances Wheelahan
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Organisations around the world spend significant sums each year protecting their intellectual property. But there are changes afoot, with some companies choosing to make their intellectual property freely available to the public. Could the days of jealously guarded IP be numbered? A recent announcement by GE highlights a new innovation frontier.

"We are working to return patents to their intended purpose, to provide inspiration for future inventors. Welcome to a whole new way of inventing."

That is the bold claim which marks a new union between GE - one of the world's largest conglomerates – and Quirky, an online social product development company which launched in 2009.

Quirky invites ideas from, essentially, anyone who has them. This shared thinking approach, or 'crowd sourcing', drives collaboration between an untapped community of online inventors and Quirky's own product design staff. Good ideas make the cut – and Quirky brings at least three new

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