Summing up the last year

Patfrigate wishes all our blog readers, a Happy and Prosperous year ahead. Last year has been full of surprises, new laws, IP arguments, statistics and the list goes on.We hope, Patfrigate continues to provide the right amount of support and solutions to your firm's IP needs. Devising Intellectual Property strategies, analyzing IP portfolios and providing a complete gamut of IP solutions has been our motto and we will continue to work diligently. Our blog readers have been extremely supportive and we aim to provide you more global updates & IP insights during the coming year. Till then, stay healthy and stay updated!

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Prior Art search : An important link

The entire procedure for attaining a patent, starting from conceptualizing your idea, writing down those crucial points, filing patent applications, answering office responses, etc. Did I miss anything? Yes, the missing link is thoroughly conducted “Prior Art” research.  Many a times, an Inventor often overlook that important aspect thinking his innovation being the pioneer in the field and one of its kind. The result is no Patent granted ,infringing claims or multiple amendments in the claims structure. In all the cases, your prospect of attaining a Patent seems dodgy.

The idea behind a Prior Art search is to negate all those possibilities which could hamper the approval of your patent application. Imagine your latest invention comprise of certain features (if not all) which are already patented a year back or may be already disclosed in a peer review journal. You, as an Inventor have no idea where does this enter into picture. Anyways, there is not much left for you now but to carefully amend the claims of your application or carry on answering the multiple office actions. In the entire process, you lose precious time and intellectual energy while making futile permutations and combination.  To be more precise, time is money, can you afford to lose it.  

As an IP strategist, I have always advised individual inventors and start ups to pay crucial attention to this foundation point. There is absolutely no point in running a prior art research after filing your patent applications. Prior Art forms the base of the pyramid, a well conducted prior art search report can help an inventor to draft the most appropriate set of claims in the patent application. Besides that, it enables an inventor to possess a complete knowledge of existing and pending patent technology domains and freedom to operate space. As said before, it saves your time and intellectual energy. Eventually, I hope you find it useful to implement!  

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Do Patents add Economic Moat

While most of the start ups are busy devising a firm patent portfolio, have you realized how a potent patent portfolio can add the maximum economic moat to your start up business. For those who aren’t aware of the term:  “Economic moat” refers to competitive advantage of a business over others.  Angels and VCs are likely to invest in the business showing wide economic moat.  Keeping this in mind, a start up entrepreneur can add substantial economic moat by attaining IP rights conferred by Patents, Trademarks , Copyrights and Designs.

 The early stage start ups find it difficult with limited budget to accommodate for attorney’s fee, filing fee, responding to office actions and this could deter many young entrepreneurs from building a potent IP portfolio in the nascent stages. But trust me, if you manage to pass this stage, you won’t regret later. The economic benefit that a well constructed IP portfolio confers is far more than the initial investment. For a start up it is imperative to gain competitive advantage after bringing the idea to the market. A well constructed IP portfolio enables a start up to validate and position their idea considerably, thus, adding an adequate economic moat to the business. All in all, it’s the survival of the fittest and if you wish your start up to prosper, add the right mix of nutrients! 

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Devising a potent Patent Strategy

A well formulated Patent portfolio is the soul of any business venture, typically when you are dealing with high throughput technologies.  While it is obvious that the big players are diligently working to enhance their patent portfolio but on the other hand start ups have geared up to have an active eye on their building patent portfolio. Nobody wants to lose the game and the very fact has led to drafting of broader and enhanced patent claims with a scope for future claims expansion during patent prosecutions.

 Patent landscaping is one crucial factor that has contributed in strengthening the existing patent portfolio. Landscaping gives a clear indication of the technology area to focus upon, analyzing the geography of markets of interest, identifying the competitors and their area of practice and formulating core business and R&D strategies.

 Businesses have to carry out a robust IP due diligence search before foraying into the red ocean. While, entering a red ocean has its own merits and demerits, but stringent competition obviously will lead to a race in acquiring the most diverse patent portfolio. The more diverse your IP portfolio is, the stronger is your business reputation.  On the other hand, if your technology is foraying into the blue ocean, you certainly have an advantage of undisputed marketplace but this does not neglect the fact that such a situation could possibly lead to an ample number of episodes of “Designing around”. In both circumstances, you need a practical and effective patent strategy to survive.

In a nutshell, a potent patent strategy will be motley of various factors discussed above but the very fact of implementing it is a challenge. Many businesses worldwide have overcome this challenge and created a robust IP portfolio for their ventures. Devising a potent patent strategy will definitely win you many accolades in the near future. Thus, give your business a boost and adopt a pragmatic IP strategy and reap the future benefits. 

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UN witness a handsome hike in IP fee

Since the time Intellectual Property has been in the global focus, there have been many speculations and constant discussions on the monetary value attached to IP related works. It is a  great piece of news that this year WIPO witnessed a boom in the global royalty and business licensing fee which estimates to about $180 billion a year, a whopping 60 fold increase from $2.8 billion a year in 1970.

While France, Germany, Japan, Britain and the United States have been the major contributors for the global R&D and patent applications filed with the WIPO but China seems to be a fair player emerging in the global market with a share of  12.8 percent R&D. Thus it is obvious that the Innovation curve has shifted to China and we will be expecting more global innovation and research from them.

The current data reveals one prominent factor. The importance of global technology and knowledge based IP at its best. Thereby, the monetization associated with Intellectual Property is reaping great benefits and will continue to do so in future as well. So readers keep a track !

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Patfrigate IP solutions at a glance

Spectrum of Intellectual Property rights blog takes this opportunity to convey our readers that we are the official blog courtesy of  Patfrigate IP solutions. Patfrigate offers an entire gamut of strategic IP services to enable global clients formulate an effective IP culture and IP management protocols. A wide range of solutions like Patent & Trademark services, IP audits and asset management, IP licensing consultations, IP strategies for start-ups and SME’s are the highlights of Patfrigate IP solutions.Our consultations give high priority to your concerned IP and develop extensive and reliable framework for cost effective IP management.

For more information and request for quotes, you may email us at contact@patfrigate.com or access us : here

IPO publishes discussion paper on Intellectual Property rights

Indian Patent office currently published another discussion paper on Intellectual Property rights reviewing the organizational structure of  Controller General of Patents, Designs, Trademarks and Geographical Indications. The discussion paper highlights operational issues, statistics of patents and trademarks, designs applications filed, organizational structure of various International patent offices including USPTO, Japan, UK patent office, German Patent office, Australia Patent and Trademark office and Malaysian Intellectual Property office.  Readers can find  a set of questions on Issues of consideration which includes establishment of independent Trademark and GI registry, legal changes required for reorganization of office of CGPTDM, ideal model , measures for improvement in the examination applications, etc. you may access the paper here.

 

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WIPO approaches Audiovisual Performance protection

A recent move of WIPO has been towards protecting Performers Rights in audiovisual performances. The diplomatic conference on the “Performers Rights in Audiovisual Performances” will be convoked in Geneva in the year 2012 .The International treaty will be finalized then. This is congratulatory news for the artists and performers across the globe. The international copyright fraternity will be glad to hear such a beneficial decision which will enable artists and performers to have a legitimate control on the showcase of their audiovisual performances internationally.

 There has been a constant debate on the protection of Performers rights in the digital media, although some countries have laws incorporated which give due consideration to performers rights. The finalization of this treaty will pave the way for performers and artists to prevent unauthorized showcase of their performances internationally in the audiovisual media. There are certain conventions which impart significant  importance to performers, broadcasters and sound recordists like the Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations(1961) and WIPO Performance and Phonograms Treaty (1996). At last, we welcome this essential decision and certainly it will add more strength to the global community of artists.

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This is a "Sweet Patent"!

Well, I have covered many IP topics, Patents and Trademarks. But this one for sure is the “Sweetest Patent” to be issued. The applicant for this patent is “Sweetfields Inc.”, a family owned business, located in Southern California and deals with Crystallized edible flowers or Candied edible flowers. It is reported that USPTO will issue Sweetfields Inc. , a patent for the invention resulting in edible or non edible , non-perishable , flower derived food items which will possess improved durability, aesthetics, scent and flavor.

The patent is expected to be issued on Oct 4, 2011. You may access the patent application here.While the art of crystallizing flowers isn't novel and has been practiced by many others in the business for ages but it is reported that Sweetfields's invention will aim at improving the overall shelf life of the edible crystallized flowers and the method devised will introduce scalable process for mass production of such candied flowers.

The grant of this particular patent will definitely boost Sweetfields market growth and will bring more business to the company in the near future. All in all , it's a sweet patent, isn't! 

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Are digitised book repositories infringing on Copyrights

This is a Digital age. We expect everything to be within our reach with the blink of an eye. Why books should be left behind. The new age digital books and the digital book hosting web portals have made it easier and quite accessible to reach the rarest available books with a click. But in the process, there is a possibility that the Author's moral rights and copyrights are put at stake. In a recent case, a group of International Authors have sued five US universities for copyright violations and unauthorized dissemination of digital books. The plaintiffs include the Author's Guild, Australian Society of Authors, UNEQ and other individual authors. The lawsuits have been filed against universities of Michigan, California, Wisconsin, Indiana and Cornell respectively. The plaintiffs argued that these universities obtained unauthorized scans of 7 million Copyright protected books from Google and assembled the information  in a digital repository called Hathi Trust, which holds about 9,596,083 total volumes of digitized books.

The plaintiff's complaint is made against digitization, archiving and copying which makes it a massive infringement of copyrights. On the other hand, this lawsuit could bring a severe blow to Hathi Trust's Orphan Works Project . The Orphan Works Project aims at making full- text versions of out-of-print copyrighted works available in the repository when their rights holders cannot be found or contacted. Currently around 148 potential orphan works on the HathiTrust are out-of-print titles published between 1923 and 1963.

The issue is a serious one and raises different thoughts. While proponents consider such digital book repositories as a useful resource for the students worldwide but on the contrary, it is highly unacceptable for the authors to put an orphan tag to their respective works. The situation is perplex and the pros and cons appear to be in equal proportions.Until then, we have to wait and see the outcomes in this case.

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New Poll of the week

Following are the results for the last Poll of the week , namely : " Do you think Mobile App Patent wars are delaying further Innovations". About 40 percent of the readers voted for Yes. The rest 40 percent voted for No and the remaining 20 percent voters hold Neutral Opinion.

New Poll: " Do you think the Compulsory License granting in Pharmaceutical patents will pave way for the new Low cost generics in the developing world ". The new poll of the week could be accessed here or by scrolling down the blog page. Click your opinion.

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Patent granted to IamResponding.com

USPTO has granted a new patent for an innovative technology by IamResponding.com. The technology in focus aims at reducing emergency response times by knowing instantly , who is responding to the emergency event. IamResponding.com's web based system is currently accessed by fire departments, EMS agencies, and other emergency responding organizations across North America. USPTO granted patent no. 8,009,810 for the invention titled “ Emergency responder reply system and related methods”. 

 

The patent claims :
“A method for providing a notification service that is independent of any outbound notification service that originates a dispatch for services, the method comprising: receiving a telephonic response from a responder to the dispatch for services regardless of how the responder becomes aware of the dispatch for services , and obtaining an indication of whether the responder is responding to the dispatch for services, identifying the responder from which the telephonic response has been received , and providing for display , the identity of the responder and the indication ”.

In general, the technology in focus is a web based system used by emergency responders to report their chiefs, team leaders and fellow colleagues. In turn, responding members dial a pre-assigned number on any phone, and their name, information and response status which appear on any internet-enabled device. Hence, the respondent’s name and other relevant details can be easily accessed via the internet .Such a technology is a boon for emergency conditions where immediate aid is required . The technology appreciably reduces the response time taken by the emergency responders and thus ensures quick and appropriate emergency responses.

We hope in the near future such innovative and web based technologies prosper and tap new domains of applicability.

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Access the gTLD Webcast

Being a close observer of IP in Digital Economy and having compiled earlier blog posts on gTLDs and Web domains, I think the IP savvy readers will join a free online webcast  on the "Overview of new gTLDs : the Application period". The webcast covers topics like basics of  gTLD program, ICANN background, application process, application expenses (pre and post delegation), application window period, objection types and objection procedures, registry responsibilities etc. 

Businesses thinking of extending their brand power in the digital society will find this a useful resource.The webcast is archived on INTA website and you may follow the link here for an instant registration.The webcast is available through December 31, 2011. Don't forget to check your email for the final access to the webcast URL link. So, keep growing your brand power and brand presence in digital society with the launch of new gTLDs.

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Poll of the Week

The results for the last poll of the week : Do you think Patent troll is impeding Innovation. 72 percent readers voted for a big "Yes" implying that Patent troll indeed impedes the pace of Innovation.14 percent voted for "No" and the rest 14 percent readers voted for "Maybe".

New poll of the week : Do you think the Mobile App patent wars are delaying further Innovations.You may cast your opinion here or scroll down the blog page to vote there. Readers opinions on the current IP issues are a great way to gauge the IP know how , hence keep logging in.

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Trademark owners worried with the advent of new domains

While it has been in the buzz for quite sometime that the advent and launch of new .xxx sponsored top level domains (sTLD), which are vested for adult entertainment, are going to raise speculations and concerns amongst the business and the trademark owners for the probable misuse of their brand names and trademarks. But the relief comes along as the ICM registry has given provisions to the trademark owners who do not wish to be included under these domains. The ICM registry has allocated a period called as the Sunrise B, for the Trademark and Intellectual property owners to block and opt out from the abovementioned domains and to ensure that their trademarks or brand names are not registered as domain names by others in .xxx domain.  

 Such brand or trademark names will be reserved from registrations or blocked from registrations and will be removed from the pool of domain names available for future registrations provided that there are no conflicts with the Sunrise A period applicants. To summarize, I can say that while internet is marching towards discovering new horizons, it is utmost important to realize the fact that protection of trademarks and brand names are extremely important to maintain your business and trade integrity and at the same time to avoid your Intellectual Property getting trapped under future conflicts. So keep a keen observation around to maintain your Brand Integrity.

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Guide to WIPO Services Published

 

As we all know, WIPO has been a Pioneer organization in managing global IP related Information, Guides and Manuals to enhance our levels of Intellectual Property know-how. This time around, WIPO has published a "Guide to WIPO Services" to cover brief overviews of areas like PCT, Madrid and Hague systems, Arbitration and Mediation. The short guide gives readers a fair idea of the above-mentioned concepts which are immensely required by the innovators as well as the corporate people to further augment their Intellectual Property knowledge. The published Guide's English version could be accessed here .

 

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Manual of Geographical Indications Practice Published

The Manual of Geographical Indications Practice and Procedure has been published on 27th July 2011 by the Office of Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks. All the relevant information has been discussed in the manual including the evolution of GI (Geographic Indications), the Geographical Indications of Goods ( Registration and Protection) Act 1999, Filing of GI applications, Examination, Opposition, Authorized  User Registration etc. Readers can access the manual here.

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New poll of the week

 The new poll of the week can be accessed here. Readers may vote their opinion by following the mentioned link or can access the poll by scrolling down the blog page.The results for the last poll of the week: "Do you think Parallel imports should be discouraged in context of IPR protection", is as follows :

About 80 percent of the readers voted for a big "No". It certainly implies that people are in favor of parallel imports been given due consideration and relaxation from IPR protection. Meanwhile, it is important to state that this is just the opinion of the readers who voted and the general opinion may differ from person to person. 

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Patent Troll takes it Toll

We have witnessed quite a number of patent trolls in the past few months. Most of them have been in the web or mobile apparel development zone. The new addition to this list is the Kootol , an Indian based software start up. It is evident that Kootol Software Limited, filed the US patent application early in the year 2006 titled “Universal knowledge management and desktop search system”. The patent application states “A system for transmission, reception and accumulation of the knowledge packets to plurality of channel nodes in the network operating distributedly in a peer to peer environment”. Also the “would be” granted patent system covers Dynamic Communication & Real Time Search Engine along with one source all messaging functionality at user's hand . While it is noteworthy that Kootol is a new software start up and is a non- practicing entity which will pursue to complete the development of its software solutions in future, based on the technologies they have patented or filed for patents. Kootol has already notified a number of companies including Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Apple, Bharti Airtel Ltd., Amazon, AOL, Nokia, Ford Motor, Foursquare Inc., IBM, Linkedin, Twitter, etc. for using their core technology for which they are expecting a patent soon.

It is mentioned on Kootol's website “We are in the process of sending informative notice to several other companies and developers, who are using our technology. We also welcome all the companies and developers for the licensing”. Seems like Kootol's stand is lucid , they expect to license their technology extensively to all those App developers using its core technology. But it is a crucial point to note that small time mobile or the web apparel developers will find it a pocket burning deal to fight litigation or infringement suits on a regular basis. It is evident that increasing number of Patent trolls will certainly decelerate the pace of innovations in the near future. Technology Developers and Innovators should adopt practices like Patent watch, Clearance search, or Due diligence search, Patent re-examinations, Patent infringement insurance and Early settlements, in order to save time and money invested in their venture. On this note , I conclude by stating that the bottom line is to secure your Technology as well as your Business to survive in the global competitive market. 

 

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New Poll of the week

New poll of the week can be accessed here or you may scroll down the blog page and cast your vote there. The results for the last poll : " Do you think budding entrepreneurs should have priority towards focusing on IP framework during the drafting stages of their business", almost 100 percent of the readers voted for a big "Yes". So, readers keep clicking and voice your opinions.

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Do E-commerce based platforms infringe upon trademarks

E-commerce has emerged as a prominent and cost effective business method to reach the global consumers with just a click of the mouse. Small , medium and even large enterprises have entered into the arena of e-commerce based business practices. E-commerce successfully propelled the online business for about more than a decade, with Amazon and eBay starting out as early in 1995 setting the early benchmarks for many follow up online businesses focusing on business to consumers (B2C) services.

While building these online transaction platforms , nobody would have ever thought that they will rise incessantly and occupy a major share in the global consumer market. Well that was history, the current scenario for e-commerce based businesses is certainly promising but extremely competitive as the number of players are rising every quarter. Such a stiff competition in occupying customers, delivering innovative , cutting edge and cost effective consumer goods can be the breeding grounds for the future Intellectual Property conflicts.

One of the recent IP conflict that came into picture is the eBay v/s European brand owners trademark violation issue. It is evident that eBay is an e-commerce giant in conducting B2C online business successfully for over a decade and transacting in diverse range of consumer goods but at the same time the Brand owners in the European territories are unhappy with the way by which counterfeiting goods pave their way to the eBay platform and thereby highly affecting their overall brand sales. While eBay claimed to have developed a stringent anti-fraud policies for suppressing such conflicts in future but the luxury brand owners like L’Oreal, who filed a case against eBay at the European Court in May 2009, seems satisfied with the recent decision of the court holding eBay liable for trademark infringement committed by its users. The court's judgment could be accessed here.

This decision will certainly have a great impact on the European brand owners and will somehow lag the parallel importation or the grey market goods entering the European consumer markets. The court's decision in this favor also indicated that the national courts within EU will enforce suitable punishments if such online market platforms violate trademark rules and regulations. Looking at the rising numbers of online trademark infringements ,this decision of the court is certainly welcomed by the European brand owners who were battling for the online protection of their brands for quite some time. Hence, the e-commerce based platforms will certainly look closely into the aspects of Intellectual Property infringements and will ensure to develop stringent measures to curb such IP related infringement issues in the future and foster a great consumer – business relationship. 

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New poll of the week and Results

 New Poll of the week: " Do you think budding entrepreneurs should have priority towards focusing on Intellectual Property framework during the drafting stages of their business". You may access the poll here or you can scroll down the blog page and access the poll there.

Results for the last poll of the week: " Do you think there is a global need to hire efficient CIPOs (Chief Intellectual Property Officers) for managing IP strategy of a company " are as follows: 

1) 50 percent of the readers voted "Yes".

2) 50 percent of the readers voted "Can't say"

Readers may access the polls and voice their opinion.

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Start - ups and the role of Intellectual Property

Acknowledging the fact that there are several factors and ingredients involved in setting up a start-up venture , one prominent fact is that the key element in any start-up is the entrepreneur's Intellectual Property(IP). The IP is the key initiator for entrepreneur's access to financing and technology acknowledgment , which are instrumental in providing adequate thrust to start the venture. On the contrary some business strategists hold an opinion that start ups should make an early entry into the markets focusing upon addressing new market segments rather than entangling themselves into the patent filings and procedures. Well, from my point of view, I certainly don't buy that argument. All technology based start ups have one thing in common that is “ The new technology” itself. What's the idea behind spending huge bucks in creating ,distributing brands and targeting new customer bases when your technology itself stands unsecured from IP point of view.

How would a start up entrepreneur deal with the consequences of infringements and technology thefts by the ever growing competitive global market. The only way to ensure protection of your technology is by securing a “Patent right” on that. As early as an entrepreneur comes up with an idea to design a start up around a new technology , the next immediate step should be to file a provisional patent application followed by the complete specification later. Understand the utmost need of filing a patent application and securing an early priority date nationally or internationally because it might be possible that many other start- ups might be working on the similar technology and will be in the race of filing the patents themselves. Looking at the stiff global competition, entrepreneurs and inventors should aim for an early patent priority date to be in a profitable situation.

From business point of view, an early stage entrepreneur with an established patent portfolio will undoubtedly draw prominent attention for financing from the investors. Looking at the vast number opportunities which an entrepreneur enjoys after attaining IP rights on their respective technologies or inventions, I wouldn't mind spending an extra time to patent my technology. Start -up entrepreneurs can monetize heavily through their IP in the following forms : 1) Licensing their technologies with established companies , 2) Creating licensing Partnerships, 3) Selling their IP , 4) Reaping the benefits from royalties, 5) Damages awarded by infringements , 6)Using the IP itself . Thus, the right amount of money starts flowing in the start-up, just by the value of your intangible assets like IP. Therefore, the next time you think of launching your start -up , give a comprehensive thought on the benefits of Intellectual Property which could boost your start- up.

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Poll of the week

Readers may log their entries in the "Poll of the week" created below  (scroll down towards right ). The results will be updated on the blog after a week. Keep in touch with these interesting polls and state your opinion about the latest trends in IPR.


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Microsoft bagged Patent for Internet Spying Technology

Microsoft is in the news again, this time for winning a Patent on Legal Intercept Technology which will allow organizations to monitor and intercept communications on VoIP based networks.The patent application was filed at the USPTO in December 2009. As per the patent filing , Legal Intercept Technology involves " A method implemented at least in part by a computer receiving data regarding establishing a communication session between at least two entities via a switched packet network for a communication that includes audio and a recorder manager operable to configure a recording agent to silently copy communication transmitted via the communication session". 

Meanwhile , this technology for silently recording communications on VoIP networks opens doors for the governmental organizations and law enforcement bodies to monitor communication between telephone or VoIP users to ensure better ways to intercept Internet communications. It is evident that earlier this year, in May when Microsoft agreed to buy skype for $8.5 Billion, it appeared that Microsoft will make Skype compatible with CALEA (Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act), which will make telecommunication carriers to comply with the surveillance norms of the Governmental and Law enforcement agencies. Hence, it can be inferred that  Microsoft patent portfolio has yet another shining technology which holds great promise for the future of legal interception in telecommunication sector.

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IP asset management : a business benefit

With the ever-growing competitiveness amongst different industries to develop effective business management protocols and strategies, Intellectual Property Asset management holds equal space in this arena. In fact business management compliments IP asset management in a way that both appears to be two sides of the same coin. Today most of the businesses across the globe understand the importance of effective IP asset management and IP monetization through royalties, licenses etc. In a nutshell, IP asset management covers various areas like  IP docketing,  Patent management, Invention disclosure management, IP due diligence, IP auditing, IP portfolio management , IP compliance management, and the list goes on. The crux of the matter is that no industry player wants to lag in the race of monetization. It is quite often seen that the technology-based companies comes out with umpteen inventions, which in turn replicate into to as many patents and trademarks. With a big list of Intellectual Property Portfolio , at times it becomes cumbersome to manage litigation details, licenses, royalties, cost estimations, maintenance reviews etc. 

To align your IP portfolio in a fair manner and to gain returns on your R&D investment, you definitely require an efficient IP asset management service. There are many IP management firms which are dedicated in providing your patent portfolio , a definite shape. Apart from that, there are many IP management software and SaaS ( Software as a Service) based applications, which provide real time support for effective IP asset management. For e.g. Anaqua, Thomson IP manager, Decipher and Lecorpio are all software or SaaS based applications which offer browser based IP asset management solutions. Therefore, industries based in any sector can enjoy the benefits of a well-coordinated IP asset management and thereby enhancing the overall business portfolio and business benefits.To conclude, it is very obvious that IP asset management is a perfect combo of business and IP going hand in hand. 

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Nortel Patent portfolio draws great interest amongst the bidders

The Nortel Patent auction , which is scheduled later this month, has managed to gather a massive interest amongst the prospective bidders and the buyers. Google Inc. has already set the starting bid at a whopping $900 million.Well the Patent and Asset management experts says that Nortel Patent Portfolio can successfully manage several billion dollars by offering a massive patent portfolio with 6000 patents which encompasses wide range of technologies employed in Wired or Wireless communication, Semiconductors , Social  and Data networking, Internet search etc.

The sales process is undertaken by a Chicago based law firm named Global IP Law Group. Well, this is definitely a big opportunity for just a two year old IP firm to start venturing into this terrain. Patents and other Intellectual property assets require a great deal of research and work to finally arrive at a money valuation that is substantial and in relevance with the market standards. The traditional methods of Pre and Post money valuations based on assets and market value of the securities or the companies,  cannot be equally applied in case of Intellectual Property like Patents. After all Patents are exclusive rights valid for a certain period of time within which the inventors or the creators can license such technologies for monetization.

 Apart from that, The Nortal Patent Polio offers great technologies based on next generation mobile data, which could be a plus point for the firms or companies based on telecommunication and IT based business models. Hence, the bid winner will certainly have a bright business future by gaining access to this patent portfolio.

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Crowdsourcing to solve patent issues

Crowdsourcing to solve patent issues goes back to 2008 when this buzz was created in the global online community. An American patent research company “Article One” has awarded about $1.3 million to its researchers for Crowdsourcing investigations related to “Prior Art” for the purpose of invalidating patents infringement claims made by various companies to sue the defendants. The latest being Macrosolve, which apparently sued Apple, Android and Blackberry apparel developers. Recently, US based companies Macrosolve and Lodsys  filed many infringement lawsuits against  Mobile App developers for using their patented technologies for the apparel purchases.

Article One Partners, a New York based company has crowdsouced the job for finding " Prior Art " to invalidate the infringement claims made by Macrosolve to sue Mobile App developers. It is evident that the recent surge in the patent infringement suits made in the Mobile App world, has left many small time Mobile App developers baffled since they do not have much to offer in terms of settlements, royalties and licenses, against such technology infringement claims.

 Alternatively, Article One has opened a vast opportunity for the global community to participate and unravel the prior art involved in the Macrosolve’s patent claims, in lieu of which it will award, the successful researchers cash prices worth $5,000 to $20,000 per study. As per Cheryl Milone , CEO of Article One Partners, in a statement to Guardian : "We believe the Article One model benefits more than just the clients. This Study is a prime example of how multiple parties can participate in solving a potentially costly problem. Application developers and the general public alike can join the search for prior art that impacts the burgeoning mobile app marketplace".

Well, all I can say is that Crowdsourcing has certainly been a great problem solving and cost effective way to approach the  global community of contractors. The foray of Crowdsourcing into patent prior art research will pave the way for many cost effective and technology oriented resources in the future. 

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ICAP offers patent portfolio for the buyers interested in eCommerce

ICAP Patent Brokerage is back with an interesting patent auction. This time the patent portfolio on the sale includes Quantum Leap Research technology : Automated system for matching buyers and sellers on the internet for providing benefits to community users. As evident from the USPTO Patent Application No.7,890,549, this portfolio discloses "Collaboration Portal (COPO) a scaleable method,system and apparatus for providing computer- accessible benefits to community of users". In other words, this technology offers an automated platform for performing marketing transactions and a collaboration portal .It will identify the seller groups which offer products and services to the online customers and match them with the suitable preferences of the customers in a user friendly software infrastructure. 

One of the key feature which makes this patent portfolio an attractive proposition for the eCommerce Business model is the fact that this technology offers a "Transaction Friendly" environment by  providing an automated platform for satisfying sellers and buyers without increasing manual efforts or requiring the services of market consultants. Thus, the technology offers an attractive business solution for the booming eCommerce ventures like online shopping, online trading and online gaming platforms.Looking at the vast market for eCommerce based businesses, I find that prospective buyers gaining access to this technology will be in a win- win situation for successfully operating their eCommerce based platforms.

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Patent Agent 2011 results

The result for the Indian Patent agent examination, 2011 has been announced. Only 201 candidates passed the threshold out of 1821 candidates who applied for the examination in Jan 2011. Details could be gathered from the website and the link here.

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Is India ready for the Utility Model Law

There has been a recent publication of a very interesting research and discussion based paper by DIPP on the utility model law and its probable applicability under the Indian Intellectual property regime. While it is noteworthy that around the globe many countries already have a well established framework for Utility Model Laws, India still is in the decision making stage of whether to implement the utility model regime or not. According to WIPO statistics there are 55 countries and 2 Inter- Governmental organizations having intellectual property protection via Utility Model Laws. Certainly there are many benefits of bringing the Utility Model Regime in India, it will boost the SME's , MSME's and will correspondingly bring an added GDP to the economy. 

More Innovations will be witnessed and the price, time and expenses for gaining such IP protections,will considerably reduce. Inventions which do not fall completely within the scope of patent laws could be registered by the Utility Model route. This will aid in an overall economic development, more inventors and small scale enterprises will indulge themselves into innovation spree. Amongst a few demerits, a primary demerit includes the fact that since there is no substantive examination prior to the grant of such utility models, such a regime can eventually cause weakness in the legal enforcement. A more detailed version of this discussion can be accessed here.

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Google's Celebrity facial recognition patent

Well, it is certainly an interesting piece of news. Google's patent application for the celebrity facial recognition has been published by the USPTO. The patent application is titled  “Automatically Mining Person Models of Celebrities for Visual Search Applications.” It is definitely an interesting approach. The patent application is apt and in place with google's idea to launch Face Recognition apparel for mobile devices. Amidst the debate over the pros and cons of this technology, the celebrity face recognition patent database has been tested with about a thousand celebrities. The technology works on the fact that it precisely identifies the celebrities facial images using an intra model analysis and other combination technologies. The patent application states "Recognition is  performed based on precision and recall to identify the face images as belonging to a celebrity or indicate that the face is unknown". Certainly it is an interesting technology but not to forget the fact that every technology has it merits and demerits.Well how successful and popular this technology will be amongst the technology savvy, for that we have to wait for a while.

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IP management and the Outsourcing debate

While offshore outsourcing is the current trend on the IP block, there has been an endless debate over the pros and cons over this issue. I would like to focus on the merits and precautions regarding the IP outsourcing phenomenon. Why do most of the big firms need an external IP counsel along with the in-house IP team. There is a big reason attached to it. One of the basic fact is that by employing an outhouse IP counsel , there is an increases level of effective IP management. There are times when work takes a toll for in-house IP counselors to follow up the relevant cases. In all such circumstances hiring and outsourcing IP work to paralegals or legal attorneys in respective domains definitely seems to be an effective proposition. Another crucial factor is "Cost". By outsourcing IP related work , firms not only get an added advantage of outhouse IP expertise but at the same time can effectively reduce costs and time associated with the IP projects. While outsourcing gives an added advantage of getting a “Bird’s eye view” approach of IP related matters from offshore IP consultants and practitioners, it also causes many concerns. 

   In the recent past off shoring the IP related work to independent contractors, legal attorneys, paralegals and SME’s definitely has added to the global GDP and created business and work opportunities worldwide but it is not to forget that all this comes with a sack of concerns. While on the one hand, firms get cost effective IP portfolio, asset management and other IP related services via outsourcing but on the other hand, issues like disclosure of information, trade secrets, ownership matters, sub-contracting, etc, can be a reason for concern. It is utmost important for the firms to create legal agreements for non- disclosure of relevant information to protect their outsourced intellectual property. The firms have to be vigilant about competitors or any outflow of IP knowledge while off shoring. Therefore, looking at the above mentioned spectrum of merits and concerns, it is mandatory to follow a well defined , well etched, integrated IP framework which will have clear standards and protection regimen for outsourcing IP related work.

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gTLDs or IDN's : What is your take!

There has been a lot of buzz about the decision of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to launch new gTLDs (Generic Top Level Domains) later this year. The usual gTLDs which currently amounts to about 2 dozen) like .com, .net, .org etc will take a new shape with the launch of new generic Top Level Domains where it will be easier for private firms and companies to register Domain names which will pertain to anything ranging from their company’s brand name to communities, generic terms, geographical regions etc. For e.g. with the new gTLDs, one can register domain names like .watches, .market , .brand , .city, .eco etc. Definitely the idea of new gTLDs  is innovative and can give companies and businesses all over the world an edge in terms of revenues and security. Considerable number of pre- registrations also started in this regard. In the backdrop of this gTLDs  buzz , it seems like IDN’s have taken a backseat, but it is certainly not the reality. Russia being the first country where last year in November,the IDN’s were launched and eventually translated country specific domain names like .ru into local scripts. The statistics states that Russia alone had 800,000 registrations for the new domain.Other countries to join the bandwagon are China and the Middle East.

It is evident that the new gTLDs and IDN’s have great promises for the future of 2 billion internet users worldwide but this innovation has arrived with a great deal of responsibility on the shoulders. The current E -Commerce market is ever-growing year by year. It will be noteworthy to understand the fact that there are many downsides attached to the IDN’s and gTLDs. For instance with the launch of new gTLDs, it will be utmost important for the brand owners to protect their brand marks, trademarks or service- marks of the registered goods and services against future infringements. The companies have to be genuinely active to watch any Cybersquatting events over the world wide web. Although it is important to mention here that to overcome such a downside of gTLD, ICANN has formulated Implementation Recommendation Team (IRT). IRT recently published a draft for the implementation of an IP Clearinghouse. The IP clearing house will support services like : Watch services for any infringement of trademarks, Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URP) for domain names that infringe IP rights and many other scanning services. On the other hand, the Downside attached to the IDN’s is also pertaining to the Cybersquatting events and infringements. It will be a cumbersome affair to detect websites in foreign scripts. Eventually such issues have to be analyzed by the UDRP and URS systems. Hence, it is very obvious that the new regimes and innovations in the domain names are undoubtedly welcoming by the internet users worldwide, but as an old adage says “With great power comes great responsibility”, it certainly comes with a great deal of duty and self awareness.

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