WE CAN BUILD YOU

On July 20, 2008 in General

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Philip K. Dick has written many science fiction stories from the 1950s until his death in 1982.  He is better known for the story “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” which became the 1982 blockbuster motion picture “Blade Runner”, the short story “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale” which was adapted into the Arnold Schwarzeneger starrer “Total Recall” (incidentally, this movie relaunched Sharon Stone’s career) , “Minority Report” starring Tom Cruise, “Paycheck” starring Ben Affleck”, and many others.   The influential American science-fiction writer wrote a story in 1962, which was published in serialized form in November 1969- January 1970 as “A. Lincoln , Simulacrum”, which was subsequently published in 1972 as a novel entitled “We Can Build You”.  The story revolves around the protagonist Louis Rosen who is a partner of MASA Associates, which is in the business of producing and selling spinets and electronic organs.  Unfortunately, the sales of these products begin to fall, and the company has to look into other avenues to sustain themselves.  It was at this juncture that his business partner Maury Rock’s eccentric (albeit mentally imbalanced, according to the tests of that future time) daughter Pris comes up with a bright idea of making a near real electronic look alike- called simulacrum- of American civil war heroes.  With the help of the in-house engineer Bob Bundy, they first create the simulacrum of Secretary of War in Abraham Lincoln’s cabinet, Edwin Stanton.  Subsequently, they go on to produce a simulacrum of Abraham Lincoln himself.  A perfect replica in all aspects, the simulacra was done with such attention to detail that they even behaved just like the original had, including the manic depressive moods shown by Abraham Lincoln.   

Considering the company was not doing well financially, the partners were seeking external investment, to which end they attract the attention of a rich businessman Sam K. Barrows.  A particular sequence of dialogue between the potential investor and the partners of the financially strapped company’s partners caught the author’s attention.  It rings true to any business today – especially smaller businesses looking for investment- as it did when Philip K. Dick wrote it more than four and a half decades ago.  Here are the relevant snippets from the book:   

” ‘[W]hat it is’, Barrows said to him, ‘is a life-size version of the talking dolls that were so popular in the past; correct-‘ 

‘No,’ Maury said, ‘not exactly.’ 

‘Well it talks and walks around,’ Barrows said.  ‘It took a bus to Seattle.  Isn’t that the automaton principle made more complex?’… ‘[W]hat I’m getting at is, there really isn’t anything new here, is there?’   

[D]ave Blunk (Sam Barrows’ attorney) put his hand on Maury’s shoulder.  ‘What Mr. Barrows wants to know has to do with the patentability, if I may use such an unwieldy term, of your Stanton and Lincoln robots.’ 

Pris spoke up in a low, controlled voice.  ‘We’re fully covered at the patent office.  We have expert legal representation.’ 

‘That’s good to hear,’  Barrows said, smiling at her as he picked his teeth.  ‘Because otherwise there’s nothing to buy.’   

This is, as mentioned earlier, so true when businesses evaluate others businesses.  The possession of a new technology as part of an organization’s knowledge base, which is then translated into a patent portfolio increases the worth and brings in more funds as investment for growth.   

Here at Xellect IP Solutions, we provide holistic solutions to your intellectual property (IP) requirements.  Xellect IP Solutions is well-poised to assist in every facet of IP including IP generation, IP rights acquisition, and IP value realization.  The services range from setting up in-house processes for recognizing IP, and creating documentation for capturing and review ideas, searching and analysing patent databases for relevant patent information (mining for patent “gold”), drafting patent applications for adequate protection, prosecution of patent applications, assessment of patent portfolio, valuation, value realization through appropriate means (selling, licensing).   

If Philip K. Dick was Xellect IP Solutions’ spokesperson, he would have said “We Can Help Build You”. 

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