Message from the Battlefield: Properly Secure Intangible Assets Before Managing Them

By: Ian McClure
masterlock-main_full

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

Categories: Copyright Caucus, Patent Prospects

Top Stories of 2009 in Intellectual Property Management and Monetization

By: Ian McClure
2009-calendar

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

Categories: Burgeoning Business, Copyright Caucus, Patent Prospects, Portfolio Potential, Trademark Trends

Chicago-Kent Law to Offer First Masters Degree in IP Management and Markets

By: Ian McClure
0-chicago_master

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

Categories: Burgeoning Business, Copyright Caucus, Patent Prospects, Trademark Trends

Two Takes on Intellectual Property Rights: Academic vs. Legal

By: Ian McClure
laffercurve

The debate rages on. This is an oral argument with very different closing statements and a hung jury. The case is argued by the plaintiff, "Fair Use", and the defendant, "Don't You Dare Use." It is a vicious cycle: do Intellectual Property Rights encourage innovation or stifle it? The side that dedicates their career to research sees an impediment to new research. The side that dedicates their career to protecting the right to an economic advantage created by innovation sees a means ... Read More

Categories: Copyright Caucus, Patent Prospects

Changing the Way Business is Done: The Performance Right Act Moves Through Washington

By: Ian McClure
radio1

Sometimes legislation changes an entire business model, even one that has been set in place for nearly a century.  While the music industry has been going through such changes due to both technology advancements and the legislation that has tried to keep up with them, the terrestrial radio business, although tangential to the music industry, has enjoyed its business model without much interruption.  This all might change with the Performance Right Act (H.R. 848), which is slowly making its way through Washington. As ... Read More

Categories: Copyright Caucus

Legal “Safe Harbors” For Bloggers and Other Internet Service Providers

By: Ian McClure
website_development_program

As a blogger myself, unknown legal risks involved in providing content on the internet are always a concern. The growth in internet marketing, social networking, and other uses of the internet for business and collaboration has provoked an new need for legal protection from unwanted or unwise uses of these mediums. For instance, a blogger may control his or her own blog content, but what about the unsolicited comments? Can harrassment, derogatory language, or other unwanted uses of the comments section subject ... Read More

Categories: Copyright Caucus, Trademark Trends

Sixth Circuit: Internal Corporate Restructuring Could Result in Violation of IP License or Infringement

By: Ian McClure
merger

On September 25, 2009, the Sixth Circuit handed down a decision in Cincom Systems, Inc. v. Novelis Corp. regarding the effect of an internal corporate restructuring on an intellectual property license.  Although the court interpreted Ohio merger law, it promulgated broad holdings with regard to (1) the controlling law for the interpretation and assignability of intellectual property licenses, (2) the controlling law for determining whether a merger results in the transfer of an intellectual property license, and (3) the implications of effecting ... Read More

Categories: Copyright Caucus

Obama names first IP Czar - Victoria A. Espinel

By: Ian McClure
intellectual_property

President Obama named Victoria A. Espinel the first IP czar, charged with the responsibility of enforcing the nation's intellectual property laws.  The position is a product of the ProIP Act, signed into legislation last year.  Ms. Espinel has served as an advisor on intellectual property issues to the staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senate Finance Committee, House Judiciary Committee and House Ways and Means Committee. More on the appointment and Victoria A. Espinel HERE. Read More

Categories: Copyright Caucus, Today in IP

The Connection Between IP and Labor

By: Ian McClure
wipo_logo

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) today announced a partnership with the International Federation of Musicians (FIM) and the International Federation of Actors (FIA) to improve recognition and treatment of musicians and actors internationally.  Specifically, the agreement seeks to address the recognition of these workers' rights in developing countries, and especially with regard to their intellectual property rights.  From a WIPO press release today: The agreement highlights the connection between IP and labor and the special concerns of cultural workers from the viewpoint ... Read More

Categories: Copyright Caucus

When an international IP legal regime and an old business model clash: the book publishing industry

By: Ian McClure
books

It happened to the music industry. The business model was ripe for reform, but the industry players didn't want to change. So, the radicals changed it anyways, going digital and online, and the players still won't let go. The book publishing industry held on as long as they could, but digitization and online access is here. Google is the radical in this case. The issue is the same as it was/is in music: the industry is using copyrights and copyright holders as its ... Read More

Categories: Copyright Caucus