It’s important to remember that patents can be issued not just for life-saving medical equipment – and hopefully diagnostic methods – but also on board games, like Monopoly. And these patents can be developed by anyone, male or female. However, even if your patented game says you will earn 15% more for your endeavors if you are female, this doesn’t always translate to the real world. Sometimes the best you can hope for is a little credit on the box. For now, anyway.

The 2019 Lemelson-MIT prize—sometimes referred to as the “Oscar for Innovation”—has been awarded to Cody Friesen. Friesen current serves as Fulton Engineering Professor of Innovation and Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University. He also serves as a Senior Sustainability Scientist at the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability.

Ford has introduced an idea to bring the entertainment with you in the car while projecting it outside. Some previously patented technology is back for another round, and a Federal Circuit case shows that courts are willing to show flexibility in interpreting the law as it relates to “substantial equivalents.”

We’ve spent a lot of time discussing the many reasons that quality is more important than quantity, outlining various tactics corporations have used to plump their patent portfolios. The many ways that companies may have harmed their patent strategy through mass filings or purchases are varied—but it does beg the question: Is it ever a good thing to file applications for or acquire large numbers of patents?

Early in 2018, Amazon made big news once again, this time for its $1 billion purchase of the Ring brand, which included video doorbell apps and equipment, and now also offers various other home security options. Ring made waves with its introduction to the world, its biggest “howdy” taking place on Shark Tank. It was easy to see—at least for consumers—that Ring was going places. Those with insight into intellectual property, however, had some doubts.

So far, throughout this series, we’ve established the IBM revolutionized the way corporations monetize their patents by filing for them by the tens of thousands. Of course, we also know that filing and maintaining a single patent family can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars over the life of those patents.

With summer upon us, it’s a good time to get refreshed. Perhaps some water balloons? Make sure they’re Bunch O Balloons, who were ruled to have exclusive rights to their patent. But that should be obvious, shouldn’t it? We’ll help you decide.

Who would steal Christmas presents from your front porch? Amazon is working on a solution that will give you—and the police—the answer. Also going on in the world: fewer lawsuits and clearer patent legislation. Read on to see the good that is coming to the world of IP.

In our last Penny Wise and Pound Foolish article, we investigated corporations that spent years building massive patent portfolios for the purpose of licensing programs. IBM led the way through the nineties, eventually amassing over 22,000 patents within the decade. Of course, with up to $1 billion in revenue each year solely from licensing deals, IBM definitely makes a case for piling up the patents like poker chips.