IP P®OSPE©TIVE

I've been tipped off by the IAM Blog to these interesting statistics released by the Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China. 30,626 civil cases related to IPR at first instance were received by the China national court system in 2009, up 25.49% Of the 2009 IP cases counted, 4,422 involved patent infringement, 6,906 involved trademarks, 15,302 involved copyrights, 747 involved technical contracts, and 1,282 involved unfair competition While a direct comparison to U.S. IP cases is not available (I'm not aware of ... Read More

I have discussed in other posts the direct link between quality patents and shareholder value. Now, we have proof that a favorable patent ruling at the hand of the CAFC can help a stock price surge. Yesterday, the CAFC ratified the district court's contempt order in Tivo, Inc. v. EchoStar Corp.  The case, which focused on television simultaneous recording technology patents, was well-watched by the IP community.  According to IP Watchdog, Tivo, Inc.'s stock price surged at the news of the hearing: "On ... Read More

This interesting article was in the Wall Street Journal today, titled "Google Slowly Moving Away from its "Addiction" to M&A Earn-Outs".    An interesting thought, but hardly believable.  While I am sure that Google's leaders have realized that they may have paid a little too much in some earn-out structures because they found out they were actually paying for their own goodwill, which accelerated the target's success when taken under Google's umbrella, I believe that this model will continue to be the favored ... Read More

"If everybody in the industry does it, I'll be right there," said Nathan Myhrvold, leader of Intellectual Ventures, to the New York Times in an article yesterday titled "Turning Patents Into Invention Capital".  Myhrvold was alluding to the public disclosure of patents and license agreements, something that has been the topic of conversation in the IP market over the last few years.  The article was actually a literary review of Intellectual Ventures, the NPE that so many love to hate, but so ... Read More

Consider a hypothetical:  Imagine you are the CEO and sole owner of a new business enterprise.  You hire a few employees who will have some innovative roles within your business model, whereby they may have some opportunities to create original work product that will be important to your business' success.  This work product may be a process, a technology, a marketing plan, a human resource protocol, a work of art, or a memorandum.  Now assume that, a few years down the road, ... Read More

In 2001, I saw Lebron James play in high school, and I remember telling myself, "that is the next Michael Jordan."  Of course, I meant this from a basketball standpoint, but you can't refer to Michael Jordan without refering to his brand.  MJ's brand is one of the most prolific in sports, and its longevity continues to impress.  It turned out that Lebron lived up to my basketball potential billing.  The brand of Lebron James has not disappointed either.   He recently partnered with McDonald's, ... Read More

As a lawyer, it is generally not my job to come up with a price to be paid for a license to use a client's trademark. Sure, I might be given some ballpark figures by the client and set out to negotiate based on these figures, but I don't come up with these ballpark figures. I could if it was asked of me, but it is usually left to the client to figure out what it thinks its brand is worth for the ... Read More

The legal profession is very much like other successful services that have enjoyed longevity - it capitalizes on a need based on a recurring problem by fixing the problem(s) or preventing its persistence or recurrence specific to one client.  The legal profession with regard to intellectual property is no different.  In fact, the IP legal profession has perhaps relied on this business model to an even greater degree, as the general lack of comprehension with respect to intellectual property in the business ... Read More

I'd like to first thank all of the faithful IP Prospective readers over the last 12 months.  IP Prospective will celebrate its first birthday next month! 2009 has been quite a year - for good and for bad. The financial market was consumed by a somber mood for most of the year, with just enough shining moments near the end of the year to lead U.S. consumers and investors into 2010 with an optimistic vibe. The intellectual property market did what most expected ... Read More

Chicago-Kent Law School, a member institution of the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), will offer the first multidisciplinary Masters program in Intellectual Property Management and Markets in the United States. The IAM blog first broke the news to me, as Joff Wild wrote last week that Ron Laurie, long time advocate of and expert on the CIPO movement, apprised him of the new offering.  I had caught wind of such an interdisciplinary program in the works at an institution in the UC system ... Read More