Jun 16, 2009
When a company deceives the consuming public, or exercises anti-competitive business practices in order to gain market share, we usually punish them. This is why a Washington attorney, in March of 2007, sued Solo Cup, and then Gillette, for claiming their products were protected by patents when in fact they were not. The story of Matthew Pequignot is not new. He found an archived legal hole that allows any citizen to sue on behalf of the government if they can prove that ... Read More
May 29, 2009
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
May 15, 2009
Just this week, Google announced that it was changing its already-disputed advertisement policy to allow limited use of trademarks in the text of some search ads, even if the trademark owner objects. This pours salt on the wound, according to many trademark owners that have opposed Google's policy of allowing businesses to purchase trademarks to trigger pop-up ads above Google searches that include that trademark. This essentially allows competitors to show pop-up ads of their own brand whenever a competing brand name ... Read More
Apr 28, 2009
For this week's IP Market Player of the Week, I am stepping away from the sector of the IP market focused on managing, exchanging, and/or investing in IP as a tradable asset, and stepping into the sector of the IP market focused on brand creation. While IP Prospective allocates a lot of its attention to the former, which covers patents and an occasional copyright, intellectual property in the shape of a brand name holds just as much or more value in many cases.
The ... Read More
Apr 17, 2009
$325. Thats what it costs to own a brand name. If your business is worth anything at all, and you want people to associate the name of your business with your product, why wouldn't you pay $325 to register the name? Take an hour of your time and do it yourself, or pay a lawyer for an hour or two worth of work to register it in order to insure accuracy and thoroughness, and save yourself the nightmare of having your business ... Read More
Mar 31, 2009
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
Mar 24, 2009
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
Mar 18, 2009
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
Mar 11, 2009
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
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. 