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Jon Dudas resigns as Director of the USPTO
The PatentlyO blog is reporting that USPTO chief Jon Dudas has announced he will be standing down in mid-January. This is not a huge surprise, given that the Bush-appointed Dudas was never going to keep his job under the incoming Obama administration. The fact that he seems to be giving just a fortnight's notice, though, may indicate that he has now secured another job. If so, it will be interesting to see whether he stays in IP and, if he does, in what capacity. I think it's safe to ...
Posted by Joff Wild, IAM Magazine on 07 January 2009
The IAM blog's IP personalities of 2008
It was a busy year for IP in 2008 with a whole host of people saying and/or doing a lot of very interesting things. However, as far as the IAM blog is concerned a few individuals stood out from the crowd – not necessarily because we agreed with them or supported their actions, but because they had a real impact. So, in alphabetical order, here are the people concerned: • John Amster. A former key player at Intellectual Ventures, Amster left the safety of what has ...
Posted by Joff Wild, IAM Magazine on 06 January 2009
The model changes at PatentFreedom; Matsushita is top troll target
PatentFreedom was launched in the middle of 2008 as an online community for companies looking to pool resources to gain as much information as possible about NPEs/patent trolls in order to combat the threat they pose as effectively as possible. The idea was that companies would pay an annual subscription fee of between $50,000 and $75,000 to access PatentFreedom's database of trolls to find out more about who they are or could be up against, as well as to ...
Posted by Joff Wild, IAM Magazine on 02 January 2009
Key themes for 2009 - from green patents to the IP marketplace
There is no point in making predictions about what will happen in 2009 (though it is very tempting to say that there will be no significant progress in Europe on either a Community patent or a European patent court), so instead of dong that, here are six things to look out for as the next 12 months unfold: • The cleantech/green IP debate is getting more intense. As I have written on this blog before, the issue of access to environmentally-friendly technologies has the potential ...
Posted by Joff Wild, IAM Magazine on 02 January 2009
A new Chinese patent law, the CAFC reins in the ED of Texas and other recent news
A happy new year to one and all. I hope you are warmer than we are here in the UK at the moment. It’s barely above zero in the middle of the day and the forecast is for it to get a whole lot colder. Summer seems a long way off. Anyway, after a couple of weeks of down time the IAM blog is slowly cranking into action again. Some developments during our break were: • The passing of a new Chinese patent law. This is due to come into force in October 2009. Its provisions ...
Posted by Joff Wild, IAM Magazine on 01 January 2009
Ho, ho, ho
Regular readers of the IAM blog may have noticed a bit of a slowdown in output over recent days. No excuses - it's Christmas and I am taking thing easy. That state of affairs will continue until the new year as I catch up with my family and discover what they have been doing for the past few months. Initial indications are that quite a lot has been going on. I am looking forward to finding out more. However, should anything major happen, I will be posting about it on here.
Posted by Joff Wild, IAM Magazine on 23 December 2008
The message to Barack Obama is clear: the USPTO needs new blood and a strong reform agenda
The US Chamber of Commerce has now officially released Recommendations for Consideration by the Incoming Administration Regarding the US Patent and Trademark Office. This blog first revealed that a group of senior figures was working on the publication back in October at which stage it was being framed for consideration by both the Obama and McCain camps. Now that we know who the new president is going to be, however, the recommendations are aimed directly at Barack Obama. On a ...
Posted by Joff Wild, IAM Magazine on 21 December 2008
IP Business Congress hits the first 100
The IP Business Congress, which IAM is hosting at the Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago between 21st and 23rd June 2009, now has over 100 confirmed delegates. With the early bird discount, which offers attendance at the three day event for $995, in force until 23rd January, we expect that number to rise quite significantly over the next month. Total capacity at the Four Seasons is around 500 Given what is happening to the global economy right now, the IPBC's focus on creating IP value ...
Posted by Joff Wild, IAM Magazine on 17 December 2008
Memo to EPO examiners: the patent quality debate has to be full, frank and nuanced
Over recent months, this blog has been pretty critical of SUEPO, the union that represents staff members at the European Patent Office. I have been particularly worried by its claims that patent quality at the office has declined and that staff are being forced to grant more patents than ever before because many members of the EPO administrative council, who also run national patent offices, want to increase the money that their offices receive. Such assertions, I have stated, are ...
Posted by Joff Wild, IAM Magazine on 16 December 2008
Court costs decision could be a warning to all IP firms in UK
UK magic circle law firm Allen & Overy is back in the news today, following a court decision to order it to disclose its on-going costs in representing client RIM in a current patent dispute. IAM blog readers may recall that A&O was heavily criticised by a judge earlier this year after it emerged the firm had billed RIM £5 million worth of fees after successfully representing the Canadian company in a dispute with Visto, against whom the current litigation is also ...
Posted by Joff Wild, IAM Magazine on 15 December 2008
