SME Foreign Filing Savings: A Single Patent for Europe on its Way?

May 27, 2011

On this blog site, I have previously advised that over-fling for foreign patent rights is one of the “Top Five IP-related Mistakes” made by small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs).  This is because patents are jurisdictional in nature. You cannot enforce an issued U.S. patent in, for example, France. Conversely, you cannot enforce an issued French [...]

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Playing Catch-Up: Google Bids $900M for Nortel Patent Portfolio

April 6, 2011

In 2010, IBM was awarded 5,896 U.S. patents.  Google, in comparison, was issued 276.  At the same time, Google has been adjusting its corporate strategy to offer more than Internet search-related products and services.  It has entered, for example, the wireless and desktop operating systems markets.  Yet, in the last 12 months, Google has been [...]

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A Thriving IP Business Model: The Institutional IP Aggregator

April 4, 2011

As I mentioned in my last post, it has been three years since I co-authored the article “Meet the Middlemen” with Ron Laurie, which was published in the February/March 2008 issue of Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) Magazine.  In that often-cited article, Ron and I presented a new taxonomy comprised of seventeen IP business models in [...]

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The Privateer IP Business Model: If You Can’t Beat Them, Join Them!

March 27, 2011

It has been three years since I co-authored the article “Meet the Middlemen” with Ron Laurie, which was published in the February/March 2008 issue of Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) Magazine.  In that often-cited article, Ron and I presented a new taxonomy comprised of seventeen IP business models in the U.S. IP marketplace.  Although, admittedly, the [...]

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Within a University Community, Who Owns Newly-Created IP?

January 28, 2011

I was recently contacted by a world-renowned professor who was seeking advice about a piece of intellectually property (IP) he created, and that his university was profitably exploiting.  Who owned the IP?  Can he exploit it himself?  Was he entitled to share in the proceeds above and beyond his university (base) salary?  Not surprisingly, these [...]

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The US$173.4B Global Intellectual Property Marketplace?

December 16, 2010

In today’s world, technological innovation drives industrial growth and helps raise living standards.  Thus, the importance of intellectual property (especially patent) rights in a 21st century, global knowledge economy cannot be doubted.  This is especially true in the United States with a gross domestic product (GDP) over US$14 trillion – 2.67% of which are research [...]

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U.S. Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Another Patent Case: David v. Goliath?

December 15, 2010

Two weeks ago, the United States Supreme Court decided to hear another patent case[1] – marking only the ninth time during the Chief Justice Roberts era that Court has decided to do so.  The popular press has unfortunately characterized this case as one where a large multinational firm with a market capitalization of over $235 [...]

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Protecting your Designs in the European Union: A Few Words of Advice for U.S.-Based Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises

November 4, 2010

Many of the United States-based small- and medium-sized enterprises (“SMEs”) to which I provide intellectual property counsel are familiar with the Patent Cooperation Treaty.  Under this international regime, a U.S.-based patent applicant can file for international patent protection within one-year of filing their utility patent application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.  Many [...]

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Saving Money on Initial Patent and Trademark Services: A Tip for Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises

September 23, 2010

I have previously discussed that it is clear to me that the economic downturn has lessened the appetite for companies to spend money on anything not perceived as a “necessary business expense.”  The importance of intellectual property (IP) rights in a 21st century, knowledge economy, however, dictates that individual inventors and small- and medium-sized enterprises [...]

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The Current State of the Patent Marketplace

August 12, 2010

The following are highlights from my recent presentation on “The Patent Marketplace: Past and Present,” at the National Bar Association’s 85th Annual Convention in New Orleans, LA on August 11, 2010. I have previously written that independent research, conducted by Ned Davis Research, Inc. in 2005, has demonstrated that as much as 80% of the [...]

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