Issue 55 of IAM magazine has now been published and is available to subscribers online. Hard copies are currently in the post and should be hitting desks in the next week or so.

The cover story in this issue focuses on Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Institute (CSIRO), which hit the headlines earlier this year when it secured a settlement worth hundreds of millions of dollars from a number of high-profile technology companies in a dispute relating to WLAN patents. Although the victory was hailed in Australia, in the US much of the coverage was more negative and included accusations that the institute was little more than a government-backed troll. We take a look at the dispute and at the wider work this unique organisation does. By the end, few will be left in any doubt that CSIRO is as far from fitting the patent troll description as it is possible to be.

At the end of June, over 500 delegates gathered for the fifth IP Business Congress, held this year in the Portuguese town of Cascais. We provide a full report of what was a highly successful event and focus on why so many of those in attendance now believe that IP has reached a tipping point. The IPBC report is the free to access feature in this issue.

One of the speakers at the IPBC was David Kappos, director of the US Patent and Trademark Office. With the office’s chief economist Stuart Graham, Kappos writes in issue 55 about the importance of patent quality, why it is so difficult to measure and how patent offices can work together to improve standards worldwide.

Dan Figueroa has been a senior in-house IP manager at Sony Computer Entertainment for many years. As such, his view of what constitutes IP value extends far beyond the world of patents. In a fascinating article, he looks at the latest developments in content creation and explains what they will mean for both consumers and rights owners.

Elsewhere, attorney Ray Millien explains why access to IP creation and exploitation advice is crucial to African Americans as they struggle to achieve economic equality in the US; while in her latest article from China, Victoria Wang carries interviews with two prominent individuals looking to create a transparent market for technology and IP rights in the country. We also have articles looking at how crisis management is a key part of reputation management and an LES discussion of the ins and outs of compulsory licensing. Look out too for a piece that explores the ways in which European patent law is harmonising, even as moves to create a unitary patent right hang in the balance.

The PDF version of IAM 55 is available here.

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