IP P®OSPE©TIVE

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

An interesting piece by Jackie Hutter over at the IP Asset Maximizer Blog uses some narrow empirical data offered by Marcus Malek of the Intangitopia Blog to dispell the notion that intellectual property auctions have provided any benefits for individual inventors or patent holders.  The piece was written in response to this NY Times article by Steve Lohr, which claims that "patent auctions offer protections to inventors."  Ms. Hutter "wonder[s] if the fact-checkers took a break when this article was presented for publication," adding that ... Read More

An interesting article in the New York Times today discusses a Silicon Valley company called Tessera Technologies that creates packaging technology that allows for the production of miniature electronics products.  The intrigue of the article to most readers, and to the author, is two-fold: (1) the miniature technology products envisioned by the company's leaders, and (2) the ability of the company to avoid the demise that many Silicon Valley companies have met over the last few years.  A certain few last paragraphs ... Read More

I apologize for the break in action. I have been on the road almost continuously since attending last week's ICAP/Ocean Tomo "IP Markets 2009" Summer Auction and Conference in Chicago.   Thanks to those who have messaged or emailed in search of the "full report" I promised before the event, I have not been derailed from my mission and will hereby "give the people what they want." We all know the results of the auction.  For the second straight auction, the numbers were disappointing.  ... Read More

Recently I had a conversation with two other attorneys that reinvigorated an interest in this topic: Whether the government could take intellectual property whenever it deemed appropriate, use it for a public purpose, and pay the previous owner just compensation. In other words, could IP become subject to the government's eminent domain powers (or limitation on its powers, however you decide to view the 5th Amendment), similar to real and other personal property? I had spent a long time mulling over this ... Read More

Every appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court elicits a whirlwind of scrutiny. While the current nomination of the 2nd Circuit's Judge Sonia Sotomayor has proved to be just another high school debate competition on civil rights issues for political activists and politicians, it has also proved to be unique in the fact that it brings, for the first time in a long time, considerable experience in intellectual property law to the highest court in the U.S. The 2nd Circuit is no stranger ... Read More

I have discovered a very interesting post from a couple of weeks ago on the 12:01 Tuesday Blog, written by Chicago IP attorney Aaron Feigelson.   The post is titled "Patenting the Business of Patents", and discusses tangible evidence of the burgeoning IP marketplace by way of 14 U.S. patents (11 of which have been issued in the past 2 years) covering the method and business of valuing IP.  Feigelson lists all 14 of the patents, which I will recreate the list here: 7,493,262 Method for ... Read More

I returned from the Ocean Tomo Spring 2009 Conference and Auction in San Francisco with a head full of questions about the status of the market.  The market continues to grow, and that is a fact evidenced by the number of professionals and market participants that attended the conference.  Nevermind the dismal auction results, which will be the subject of another post, the conference itself and the overall optimistic and enthusiastic mood of discussion that buzzed through the rooms and halls of ... Read More

As a corporate law practitioner, an interesting IP question that pops up with more regularity is whether and under what circumstances a director of a corporation may be held personally liable for mismanagement of intellectual property.  This question is usually not posed with reference to conflict of interest possibilities, but instead with regard to the duty of care and its implications on maintaining complete information and making sound decisions with regard to that IP.   Of course, many board members don't completely understand the ins ... Read More

A few months ago a post on Joff Wild's IAM blog sparked a great debate about the valuation of IP, the difference in valuation contexts, and the viability of a practical approach.  Jumping into the discussion late, Michael Martin of Broken Symmetry posted a "final word" comment on Wild's post and on Broken Symmetry.  A few of his words moved me to revisit the IP valuation discussion on IP Prospective with a few of the standard-setting initiatives that have commenced, old and new.  One of ... Read More