Feb 17, 2009
Facebook's lawyers recently modified its user agreement terms and conditions, and all was fine until somebody realized that a few sentences covering content rights were deleted. Specifically, a provision that released content rights upon deletion of an account was struck out, and it sparked quite a fury. Consumer advocacy blog, The Consumerist, phrased Facebook's new policy as "We Can Do Anything We Want With Your Content. Forever." Facebook's terms of service do assert that "user content" is exempt from Facebook's claims of ownership ... Read More
Feb 16, 2009
Artist Shepard Fairey and his atrorney, Stanford Fair Use Project director, Anthony Falzone, are claiming fair use in the Southern District of New York over the Obama picture that became the staple image of his campaign. The photograph was taken by a member of the AP, and Fairey turned the photo into the creative mix of colors that every American has presumably seen and identified the Obama campaign with. The image was sold on posters, t-shirts, and more. There is no question ... Read More
Feb 16, 2009
Last week, a landmark decision in a Patent Court in England finally broke ground for employee inventors in the UK trying to receive royalties for their inventions' added value. The case, Kelly and Chiu v GE Healthcare Ltd [2009] EWHC 181 (Pat), enforced provisions of UK patent law that had been introduced over thirty years ago and amended recently to add teeth. Specifically, the provision provides for employee inventors to receive compensation for a patent's added benefit to corporate value. As IPKat reports, the decision ... Read More
Feb 13, 2009
While many companies have chosen to cut costs and ride the recession wave, some savvy companies are taking this time to discover new value in their company; value in the intangibles. Although some executives equate "cost-effeciency" with cutting employees and holiday parties, others are finding undiscovered or underutilized intellectual property and turning it into a new profit center.
While IP value generally isn't included on a balance sheet, its distinctive worth to a company shines at a time when standard revenue streams demonstrate ... Read More
Feb 13, 2009
The 451 Group's annual tech dealmaker report has announced that Barclays is the new king of the hill for Merger and Acquisition advisory services when it comes to information technology deals. Barclays' own acquisition of Lehman Brothers last fall propelled the British bank to the top spot. According to the report, the bank worked on the three largest IT service deals in the past year. Following Barclays is No. 2 Goldman Sachs, No. 3 JP Morgan Chase, No. 4 Citi Group, and ... Read More
Feb 12, 2009
This week's IP Market Player is Royalty Pharma. The name has begun to pop up in articles and conversations regarding attractive alternatives to raising equity capital. In a nutshell, the company purchases royalty interests in biopharmaceutical products and late-stage development drugs. Through careful purchases, it provides liquidity to its shareholders investing in these royalty streams while assuming the risks of ownership in this IP. This is an innovative product driven method of financing that is somewhat shielded from market volatility and stock price ... Read More
Feb 12, 2009
The European Parliament has today extended the term of protection for music copyrights from 50 years to 95 years. Also contained in the legislation is a provision preventing past contractual agreements from deducting new royalties resulting from the extension. In addition, there is a provision providing for a session-musician fund to be created to which producers must pay 20% of new royalties. The Parliament Press Release considers a meeting by January 2010 to discuss an extension for audiovisual works, and the extension for ... Read More
Feb 11, 2009
Entertainment giants Live Nation and Ticketmaster are set to merge, creating a horizontal monopoly in the concert ticketing market. Both companies have sizeable artist management rosters as well. In a media industry already scrutinized for monopolizing the market, this may be the first test on the Obama administration's proclaimed anti-trust crack-down. Read More
Feb 11, 2009
Our new fearless leader proclaimed in his inauguration speech that we need to “put science back in its rightful place.” Political and religious leanings aside, the debate over this decree could start with considerations over how science and creativity is funded. One of the obvious purposes for establishing intellectual property laws is to secure a method for incentivizing further creation. That incentive, of course, is a monetary motive. Creators continue to invent because they may own their creations and reap the rewards ... Read More
Feb 9, 2009
An investment banker friend sent me a very interesting blog post from Broken Symmetry. It creatively considers an historical analogy, at the intersect of business method and creative process, between 15th Century Venice and modern day Silicon Valley. The piece goes on to discuss comparisons between the two, such as their isolated position from other major metropolitan centers (Florence and Rome, LA and New York), or their aspiring classes of artisans and entrepreneurs. There also exists a parallel between the investors of both ... Read More
Ian McClure is a former corporate & securities and intellectual property law attorney with 
Trevor M. Blum is a former Associate in the Chicago-based, valuation practice group of Ocean Tomo, LLC., an intellectual property (IP) consultancy. Additionally, he provided instrumental research support to Intellectual Property Exchange International, Inc., an IP exchange start-up. Trevor holds a B.S. from Indiana University and is currently an MBA candidate at the University of Cambridge, focusing on international business and finance. His interests also include entrepreneurship, economics, and informational visualization. He enjoys running and cycling in his free time. Trevor seeks to bring a transnational business perspective to the blog. 