At the 2013 IP Business Congress last week in Boston, I was joined on stage by senior executives from Thomson Reuters, Raytheon, Dow Agro Sciences, and others on a panel aimed at determining whether in-house IP departments are cost or profit centers. We were pleased to see a standing-room audience eager to hear our thoughts during the 90-minute session, and we were able to cover a wide-range of topics.
Categories: Patent Analysis
IPVision was actively involved in producing one of the most talked about sessions at the recent IP Business Congress in Boston. The session, moderated by MIT Technology Review Deputy Editor Brian Bergstein, departed from the intellectual property theme of the overall conference and shifted the discussion to the forces and efforts driving technology research and development ... in other words, what will be "Tomorrow's IP."
As we approach annual performance reviews and strategic planning milestones, we invariably focus upon management systems and metrics.
One of the most important themes that we observe in R&D and patent departments is that leading organizations are shifting from measures of patent “throughput” to measures of patent quality.
How often do you hear the phrase “if we cannot measure it we cannot manage it”? Or, think about how your organizations (or your clients) consider IP issues too late in their processes?
Is it perhaps that we fall into the trap of experts seeking a fundamental answer (I.E., is this patent valid and infringed) while the better question is to find directional indicators and measurements that support focused review, collaborative inquiry, and the advantage of unique insights and perspectives into broader business processes and decisions.
Wall Street Journal recently reported on Federal Reserve data showing that at the end of September 2010 non-financial companies in the U.S. were sitting on $1.93 trillion in cash and other liquid assets representing 7.4% of the companies' total assets—the largest share since 1959.
As cash continues to accumulate on corporate balance sheets, pressures are rising to increase returns. Given the correlation between high-quality IP holdings and successful exit from venture capital funds, learn how leading strategy practitioners, investors, and business development functions gain from including patent portfolio analytics in their tool-kit.
On August 12, 2010, Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle) filed suit against Google, Inc. in the Northern District of California claiming that Google's Android operating system infringes 7 "Java" patents owned by Oracle America, a subsidiary of Oracle Corporation. These Java patents are owned by Sun Microsystems which was acquired by Oracle in January 2010.
Patent claims analysis is now in focus issuance of the Bilski opinion by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Looking back a few years, few business executives would think that "patent claims" would be an issue that they read about in the popular press. Thanks to business method patents, the Bilkski case and the ongoing software patent debate, this issue is now front and center as a question for corporate patent counsel.
Unfortunately, few know where to begin planning their reaction to questions about the impact (if any) of this decision and others certain to follow.
UPDATE: $7.7 Billion Update to Patent Perspectives Report (Intel Acquires McAfee)
MIT's Technology Review's July - August issue includes anin-depth briefing on information security. In working with Technology Review, we assessed over 20 companies identified by Technology Review's editors across a spectrum of activities to support this briefing and to provide a supplemental report on key patent drivers and on patent positions in the industry.
Categories: Innovation, Patent Strategy, R&D, Patent Analysis
Fresh from a post about the 9-digit VirnetX Microsoft patent litigation settlement by IPVision executive and Sloan School of Management faculty member Joe Hadzima, VirnetX announced that they are moving from microcap status to inclusion in the broader Russell 3000 index. In addition, VirnetX is issuing a special dividend of $.50 per share for shareholders of record on July 1.
The phrase "patent landscape" has become quite popular amongst the patent specialists and patent expert set. Their gravitation to the term is well-founded given the importance of IP rights to corporate success.
