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New report reveals IV's Ocean Tomo auction buying spree
Avancept LLP has published a new report entitled Publicly Auctioned Patent Buyers: Intellectual Ventures & Others. This seeks to identify the organisations that bought patents at te publicly-held Open Tomo auctions that took place between 2006 and 2009, up to - and I think - including the last one that occurred before the OT auction business was sold to ICAP. It covers the 300 lots that were sold at the groundbreaking events which, on occasions, generated a great deal of money. It ...
Posted by Joff Wild, IAM Magazine on 11 March 2010
Brazil close to declaring war on US IP
At some stage, possibly quite soon, some US patent owners could get very angry with both their own government and the government of Brazil. Yesterday the latter stated that as part of a trade dispute with the US over subsidies to American cotton producers, it may bust patents to the value of $238 million as part of overall sanctions worth close to $830 million. In other words, entirely innocent US patent owners in Brazil stand to lose significant amounts of revenue as ...
Posted by Joff Wild, IAM Magazine on 09 March 2010
There is more IP litigation in China than anywhere else on earth
The statistics coming out of China get more and more astounding. The Supreme People's Court has announced that in 2009 30,626 civil IP cases were filed. That's up over 25% on the 2008 figure. What's more, last year the courts decided 30,509 cases, a rise of nearly 30%. I have not yet seen any figures for IP cases in the US for 2009, but I would be surprised if the number came anywhere close to what is being reported for China. That said, PWC recently reported that in 2008 2,896 patent ...
Posted by Joff Wild, IAM Magazine on 08 March 2010
IP exchange will not make target opening date, but CEO hopes for second quarter progress
The Intellectual Property Exchange International (IPXI) is not going to make its initial target of being open for business during the first quarter of 2010. However, CEO Gerard Pannekoek reports that the exchange is attracting significant interest and could be operating by the end of June. I spoke with Pannekoek last week and he told me that since he joined IPXI at the end of November 2009 he has met with 25 US and European companies that most people would consider to be "in ...
Posted by Joff Wild, IAM Magazine on 07 March 2010
TiVo investors make a mint after positive CAFC patent ruling
Back in November, I blogged on the transcript of a conference call involving TiVo CEO Tom Rogers and other members of the company board. Part of the transcript covered discussions on possible the outcome of an upcoming CAFC ruling on whether to confirm a lower court's decision in TiVo's litigation with EchoStar and DISH. Were the CAFC to side with TiVo and uphold the original judgment, I said, things would look very rosey for the company. I ended the blog like ...
Posted by Joff Wild, IAM Magazine on 05 March 2010
The patent office Ponzi scheme
An interesting piece in the Mercury News about on-going efforts to sort out the "broken agency" that is the US Patent and Trademark Office (not my words, but David Kappos's) contains a powerful quote from Commerce Secretary Gary Locke. Referring to the way in which the office is funded, Lockle states: "In some ways, it's like a Ponzi scheme." That rang a little bell in my head. Hadn't I seen someone else use exactly the same phrase ...
Posted by Joff Wild, IAM Magazine on 05 March 2010
IAM launches major patent and technology licensing research project
The IAM research team is beginning work on a major new project designed to identify the world's leading patent and technology licensing lawyers, attorneys and practices. The final research will be featured in both IAM magazine and a special supplement that will be published in time to be distributed to delegates at the annual meeting of LES USA & Canada. IAM recently became the organisation's Official Strategic Media Partner. The research will, of course, also be made ...
Posted by Joff Wild, IAM Magazine on 03 March 2010
Goldman Sachs highlights the risks of failing to manage corporate reputation
In IAM we recently started a new series in which Nir Kossovsky of Steel City Re looks at the way companies manage their reputations and the effects this can have on the performance of their stock. It seems pretty clear to us that the way companies are perceived in the markets and by their customers will have an impact on people's willingness to invest in them; this can either be because they are part of a particular sector or because of their individual circumstances, or maybe a ...
Posted by Joff Wild, IAM Magazine on 02 March 2010
Battistelli will be EPO president, but important questions remain unanswered
Just under 10 months to the day since the IAM blog broke the news that Alison Brimelow had decided to stand down as the President of the European Patent Office, we now know who is going to succeed her. As seemed likely when he narrowly missed out in February, Benoît Battistelli finally crossed the finishing line yesterday when he secured the required 75% qualified majority vote from the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation. In doing so, he saw off the ...
Posted by Joff Wild, IAM Magazine on 02 March 2010
Benoît Battistelli announced as next EPO president
Following three unsuccessful rounds of voting, Benoit Battistelli, has today been elected as the next president of the European Patent Office. The Director General of the French National Institute of Industrial Property received the necessary three quarters of the votes cast by members of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation at their meeting in Munich today and will succeed Alison Brimelow in July 2010. We will update this story as and when more ...
Posted by Sara-Jayne Clover, IAM Magazine on 01 March 2010
