Apr 22, 2010
I delivered a presentation today to the Kentucky Bar Association's Annual Corporate Counsel Conference titled Strategic IP Management: Shifting the Practice from Ex Post to Ex Ante. The conference was well attended by numerous In-House counsel from businesses across the state, small and large. Although it was an unconventional topic for an In-House Counsel CLE seminar, the presentation was well received and elicited a number of comments and questions afterward.
The outline materials for the presentation can be found HERE. Read More
Apr 15, 2010
Kenan Patrick Jarboe, President of Athena Alliance, has partnered with graduate student Ian Ellis to author a great paper on innovative options for financing innovation. It is a great read for anyone looking into ways to monetize their intellectual capital or intangible assets, or simply to raise capital in order to turn their idea or intangible asset into reality or a product. See Intangible Assets: Innovative Financing for Innovation at the Issues in Science and Technology website. Read More
Apr 7, 2010
(A few words from a macro - and very general - point of perspective)
Financing can come in all shapes and sizes. Generally, a start-up will (hopefully) have a great idea and leaders with a vision. However, many start-ups may be doing so without any assets - just a business plan. It may be hard to obtain financing - whether private equity or commercial loan or otherwise - with just an idea. Some start-ups, however, will be fortunate enough to have one (or ... Read More
Mar 31, 2010
I've spoken a lot on IP Prospective about preparing for intellectual property issues before they arise, and the reallocation of business client demands with regard to intangible assets. This week, an article that I authored on the subject was published in The Federal Lawyer, the Federal Bar Association's magazine. You can read the article HERE. Read More
Mar 26, 2010
Today ICAP Ocean Tomo will host their Spring 2010 IP Auction in San Francisco, which has stirred a lot of buzz lately in the blogosphere because of various sales made before the auction has even started. Joff Wild has highlighted this trend in a couple of recent posts at the IAM Blog, including a recent post with a word from Avancept IP Counseling's Tom Ewing regarding a study he has completed on the string of auctions and their trends. Interestingly, the early sales is ... Read More
Mar 17, 2010
According to a recent Bloomberg article titled "How Leibovitz Found New Partner for $24 Million Debt, Archive", Anne Leibovitz has apparently left her financial troubles behind with Art Capital and has solicited a new creditor, to the tune of $24 million, for her lifetime catalog of copyrights. According to the article, L.A.-based private equity firm Colony Capital, LLC is willing to take on her $24 million debt to Art Capital, and the contract will be collateralized by Leibovitz's archive of about 100,000 ... Read More
Mar 17, 2010
I have anticipated the movement of IP legal practitioners from an "Ex Post Facto" practice to an "Ex Ante Facto" practice. Essentially, this shift entails a move away from purely IP litigation or transactional practices, and a move towards the IP monetization space. I've identified a few examples thus far, and the newest name on this list is MioTek LLC, a new boutique law firm opened up in Milwaukee by Joe Miotke, former partner and IP practitioner for Michael Best & Friedrich. ... Read More
Mar 9, 2010
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
Mar 5, 2010
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
Mar 3, 2010
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
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. 