IP P®OSPE©TIVE

March 26-27 - Ocean Tomo commences its IP Markets 2009 campaign with their Spring IP Auction at the Ritz in San Francisco.  This auction is important for Ocean Tomo, as they have recently undergone a restructuring, and rumor has it that their Summer and Fall auctions could be postponed due to the economic climate and its possible impact on pricing.  The conference begeins on Thursday, with three panel tracks covering IP in M&A, Buying & Selling IP, and Greentech IP and Investing.  ... Read More

Headlines of late have concerned themselves with competition, or the lack thereof, created by certain adopted business methods or maneuvers. With the inauguration of a new President came a proposed tougher stance on antitrust issues. Obama appointed Christine A. Varney to head the Justice Department's antitrust division in a move that was meant to send a warning signal that the new administration was cracking down on companies vying for monopoly market positions. Google is not new to the monopoly discussion. Varney has already ... Read More

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

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

The success of "patent trolls" has been the root of a new anti-patent troll model implemented to defeat the patent troll movement and instill value in precious IP. RPX, a San Francisco-based start-up, is a "defensive IP aggregator". It is a firm that buys up free-market patents in an effort to safeguard tech companies from expensive patent lawsuits. The firm sells memberships to companies based on the company's operating income, and then turns around and buys patents on the market that relate, ... Read More

A somewhat recent phenomenon in the patent arena is the creation of "patent pools", where a number of dynamic companies with different agendas throw their patents onto a single licensing platform making their patents available under common terms. In effect, a company's IP is available to pool members, but barriers to enter the market are effectively erected, causing more prospective competitors to license from the patent pool. Therefore, even when a company's specific patent is not needed, it reaps the benefit. These ... Read More

Today's Inauguration of the 44th President, Barack Obama, holds heavy implications on every American political policy, including our domestic and foreign patent policies.  The President is charged with the responsibility of appointing a Director of the PTO, who's leadership could reflect a resurgence of innovation preeminence for the U.S.   Also, Federal Circuit openings must be filled by the President over the next 4 years, and  knowledgeable appointees will be a crucial element to a regained preeminence. The PTO and the Federal Circuit have, at ... Read More

Transparency, or the lack thereof, has caused hopeful transactors in the IP market more frustration than Terrell Owens has caused General Managers in the NFL. The sell-side has never had a platform on which to market their rights to all potential buyers, and the buy-side has never had a platform on which complete information is disclosed. This is partly (and to some, wholly) due to the inherent character of intellectual property and its valuation. The phenomenon of IP Auctions, however, has the potential ... Read More

Currently, with the number of companies jumping under the Chapter 11 umbrella, one has to ask where all of the IP is going?  Maybe even more importantly, it is very apparent that some small to mid-cap companies are selling their ever-so-important patents just to stay afloat.  (For further reading on this topic, there is a great post on IP Finance today titled "Has the Great Patent Fire-Sale Started?", which recognizes this trend and ponders what this will mean for the respective patent markets).  A ... Read More

IP Prospective will be a source of information and a medium for intellectual exchange at the intersect of intellectual property, law, investment, money, and corporate action. It is my hope that this online magazine will serve as a center of information and ideas for those with a keen interest in the future relationship of intellectual property and business. Indeed, while some may measure the success of this weblog by the quantity of readers it accrues, it is the quality of readers that will make the success uniquely ... Read More