Patent cartel formed to fight "trolls"

Joel West says, "My hunch (which I cannot yet prove) is that the best solution will be to reform the patent system to eliminate obvious patents, those that reflect prior art, and perhaps some of the incremental patents that are implied by prior art."
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Tech Giants Band Together to Buy and Sell Patents, But Not for Profit

About eight years ago, Nathan Myhrvold, a former Microsoft exec started Intellectual Ventures, a company that amasses patents that it can then license. Several tech giants, including Nokia, Intel, Apple and Sony, invest money in the holding company’s war chest. Now, several big tech companies are banding together in a slightly different patent-related venture. As the WSJ’s Amol Sharma reports, Verizon, Google and Cisco are among a group of companies joining up to defend themselves against patent-infringement suits by buying up patents before the so-called patent trolls get their hands on them.
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Duncan Bucknell's IP ThinkTank Gobal Week in Review

Click on the link above to see this week's selection of top intellectual property news breaking in the blogosphere and internet.
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Why Let Employees Blog

"I think if you’re in a business where talking to your customers is important, blogging is a great way to do that. "— Matt Mullenweg, WordCampDallas 2008
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Peer-to-Patent Project Increases Prior Art Submissions

Eklavya Gupte writes in Managing Intellectual Property that the USPTO's peer-to-patent project has led to a big increase in prior art submissions but has failed to bring in fresh patent applications in its first year, according to a report.
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Innovation for the rest of us

Innovation has climbed up the corporate ladder out pacing management processes like TQM and Six Sigma. Still, few people know how to define it or even recognize it. The clearest definition I've seen comes from the folks at the Innovation Network: "Implementing new ideas to create value."
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Victoria's Circuit

The idea of an energy-generating bra isn't as crazy as it might sound. A company called Triumph International Japan recently unveiled a solar-powered bra that supposedly will generate enough energy to power an iPod.
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Strategic Intelligence

Innovative lawyers, law firms, and legal professionals know they need to monitor the blogopshere as part of the their strategic intelligence efforts. Subscribing to an RSS feed of Google blog searches of their names, competitor's names, subjects of litigation and transactional work, expert witnesses, and keywords relating to their practice niche is now routine.
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Global Week in Review

Here is IP Think Tank’s weekly selection of top intellectual property news breaking in the blogosphere and internet, compiled by Duncan Bucknell.
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Biotechnology Goes Underground

Andrew Torrance at BioLaw says, "the perception of risk to patent rights may already be changing intellectual property strategy in biotechnology. As patent rights lose some of their lustre, there may be increased reliance on trade secret protection."
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Biotech's Unsettled Forecast

So, what is raining on biotechnology's parade? Three clouds have come up repeatedly in a variety of panels and plenaries: (1) risks of weakening patent protection, (2) a drastic deceleration in Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") drug approvals, and (3) the credit crisis.
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Biotech Brouhaha Erupts Over Cloning Dogs

There can be only one dog cloning operation, or so says Lou Hawthorne, the CEO of BioArts, a biotech company based in California.
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Reporting From BIO 2008

BioLaw will be reporting live all week from the Biotechnology Industry Organization International Conference ("BIO 2008").
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On the Road to San Diego

Stephen Albainy-Jenei at Patent Baristas says, "It’ll be fun to see an up-to-the-minute review of some of the sights and sounds at BIO’s gathering of professionals with over 20,000 attendees and 2200 exhibitors, from over 70 countries."
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Happy Father's Day

Meet Dad. He is a businessman. He works really hard, and he also has many hobbies. He plays baseball and reads. He is even the family lifeguard when the kids are swimming. His favorite thing of all, though, is being a dad.
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The Patent Office Can't Do It All Alone: Public Participation Is Key to Ensuring Patent Quality

Emily Berger at the EFF says, "It’s not news that there are patents out there that never should have been granted. Whether it’s the “invention” of entertaining a cat with a laser pointer, combining two well-known car features in a manner that offers no unexpected new outcome, or selling CDs of a live concert immediately after the show, the patent office allows some bad patents."
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Global Week in Review

Here is IP Think Tank’s weekly selection of top intellectual property news breaking in the blogosphere and internet, compiled by Duncan Bucknell.
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Legal Imperatives on Intellectual Property Management

Philip Brooks, quoting from a new publication available from Research and Markets Ltd. in Dublin: "The business landscape is littered with intellectual property landmines. Microsoft, Apple Computer, Sun Microsystems, Medtronic, Research in Motion and Nintendo are just a few of the companies that have settled patent infringement disputes for hundreds of millions of dollars. Toshiba paid a $425 million judgment to Lexar for violating trade secrets. Pfizer's patents for Viagra were ruled invalid in China and Microsoft faces similar concerns over its Office product in South Korea. In the battle of protecting intellectual property, the IP lawyer is on the front lines."
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Corporate Blogs Gain Traction

Corporate blogging is so "last year" to the "experts" but still gaining traction with companies.
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Life of a Patent: From Application to Issuance and Beyond...

Before initiating the process of procuring a patent in the United States, it is important to understand the steps and the time frame of the process. Some of the major milestones in the life of a utility patent application and a general overview of what an inventor should expect are summarized at the link above.
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"Hockey Night" Trademark Fight?

Much has been written in the Canadian popular press in the last week respecting “The Hockey Night in Canada Theme”, sometimes called “The Hockey Theme”.
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Hands Off the Playboy Bunny!

Adam Bennett of Houston, Texas got too close to the Playboy bunny and the TTAB gave him a good smack upside the head.
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Monetizing IP

According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, intellectual property in this country is worth more than $5 trillion—about twice the amount of the current federal budget. The question: Are companies taking advantage of this value?
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Preventing IP Infringement in China

Danny Friedmann of IP Dragon writes in a guest post on Duncan Bucknell's IP ThinkTank, "Intellectual property infringements in China are prevalent and a challenge for every company in every industry. If companies that do business in China take adequate precautionary measures, and at the same time anticipate infringements and be prepared to aggressively enforce their rights, they can substantially minimise their risks and damages." In that blog post linked here, you will find an overview of the ways to protect and enforce intellectual property rights infringements.
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China's Innovation Society

The topic here is innovation, specifically patents as an indicator of innovation. Great subject for China, since the government here decided a number of years ago that building an "Innovation Society" was fundamental to the country’s development plan.
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Patent Filings Surge in China

Applications are rising by 20% a year on the mainland, a sign of growing concern for intellectual-property rights. But could they be trouble for multinationals?
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Companies In China Can Protect Intellectual Property

The perception that intellectual property (IP) cannot be protected in China is out of date. Sophisticated chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturers recognize, with proper caution and monitoring of a still-developing legal and enforcement infrastructure, that the country's vast markets and production efficiencies are open to them. In fact, in these increasingly globalized industries, there is arguably a competitive imperative to find one's way into China sooner rather than later.
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Blawg Review on China Law Blog

China Law Blog's Dan Harris writes, "When I took on this task of writing Blawg Review #162, I received emails expressing excitement at the idea of this blog bridging East and West, enlightening the legal world about China, and enlightening our China readers about the legal world. All lofty goals, but not lofty enough. I am going here for no less than WORLD PEACE."
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Patently Immoral Genes

It is not uncommon for patent attorneys in the United States to console themselves, especially when suffering from the stress of long workdays and endless due dates, deadlines, and statutory bars, that at least their branch of legal practice avoids the minefields of morality.
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Patent office denies Microsoft request to re-examine 14 patents

Avistar Communications Corp. said Monday the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office rejected requests by Microsoft Corp. to re-examine 14 of the company's patents, but will look at nine others.
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Patent Litigation Protects Holders

Patent litigation is picking up. We knew that, of course, but PricewaterhouseCoopers provides the numbers to back it up in its 2008 patent litigation study. Get a copy of this study and the highlights and commentary on Law.com's Legal Blog Watch at the link above.
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How to Be a Successful Blogger

Participating in the community, sharing insights, experiences, and expertise are all what makes social media an energetic and innovative tool for communicating.
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