Patent Law

Blawg Review #172 is Up at the Ohio Employers Law Blog

Posted on August 10, 2008
Mr. Thrifty is not a summer Olympics fan, though I am, but neither of us is much impressed by half-time shows (even when they include Janet Jackson's bared breast).  We were, however, quite genuinely and completely blown away by the Opening Ceremonies in Beijing...

Are Too Many Patents as Bad for the Economy as Too Few?

Posted on August 07, 2008
In his recent New Yorker article, The Permission Problem, financial reporter James Surowiecki reviews Columbia law professor Michael Heller's new book, “The Gridlock Economy.” TGE decries the development of an "anti-commons" in a business climate possessed by the demon of possession...

Blawg Review #171

Posted on August 04, 2008
If intellectual property had a theme song it would have to be "Like a Virgin."  Why? Because IP is all about "the very first time," the "aha" moment, the creative spark that gives rise to previously undreamed imaginings...

The Blessed Virgin IP ADR Blawg Review No. 171

Posted on August 03, 2008
If intellectual property had a theme song it would have to be "Like a Virgin."  Why? Because IP is all about "the very first time," the "aha" moment, the creative spark that gives rise to previously undreamed imaginings...

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Fabulous Scrabulous, Word Scraper and the Wages of Litigation

Posted on August 01, 2008
Mr. Thrifty and I tried Scrabulous for the first time this week because we assumed it would be our last chance.  Last night, we were playing Word Scraper (first game above).  We haven't figured out the rules but we think we like it...

Patent Mediation in the Federal Circuit

Posted on July 30, 2008
See Patent Mediation on Your Horizon? by Kevin R. Casey at Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young, LLP, over at Metropolitan Corporate Counsel.  Here's an excerpt to wet your appetitie.In efforts to enhance the success that the mediation program of the Federal Circuit has already enjoyed in its short existence, Chief Circuit Mediator Amend identified at the Conference eight impediments to settlement of patent cases on appeal...

Next Stop . . . Blaaaawwwwgggggggg Review No. 171

Posted on July 28, 2008
The IP ADR Blog will be hosting the Blawg Review this coming Monday.  If you've never participated in a Blawg Review before, check out the guidelines for submission here.Though we've been reading Blawg Review since we put up our first tentative post on blogger (here!)  in June of 2006, as hosts, we're Blawg Review virgins...

Wise Up at Simple Justice's Blog Review No. 170

Posted on July 28, 2008
Because the introduction of the movie Magnolia narrates the best criminal law bar exam question in the history of film, period, I posted it for you over at the Settle It Now Negotiation Law Blog here.  Below, the haunting last scene of that dark comedy -- Aimee Mann's Wise Up -- below...

Juror Bias Could Sink Mattel/Bratz Verdict

Posted on July 27, 2008
Thanks to the Wall Street Journal Law Blog for posting this Order in the Bratz/Mattel Litigation (Barbie-Bratz Juror Booted for Ethnic Slurs). Juror No. 8 made grossly inappropriate remarks concerning defendant Isaac Larian based on his ethnicity during jury deliberations...

Timing, Bad Vibes, Uneasy Feelings Can Kill a Deal

Posted on July 25, 2008
(above:  a conspiracy theory caught in the act)From today's Wall Street Journal Market Watch We Learn that Microsoft says 'weird' Yahoo response killed deal  Microsoft Corp. executives told Wall Street analysts Thursday that the company ultimately failed to reach a merger agreement with Yahoo Inc...

That's Not the Sound of One Hand Clapping . . . .

Posted on July 25, 2008
. . . it's the smell of rubber hitting the road.(right:  the scientific representation of rubber hitting the road -- I thought our attorney-engineer readers would appreciate this one -- image from the University of Hamburg)I have a confession to make...

Settling "Bet the Company Cases" -- Qualcomm's Stock Price Soars

Posted on July 25, 2008
(photo:  from Mediation from Darkness to Light)In the Qualcomm-Nokia battle of the giants, settlement took a dedicated negotiation team, trial counsel who believed the case would not settle, and a string of pre-trial motion victories.  Trial counsel is so immersed in pursuing victory -- as well he should be -- that he calls the settlement a "multi-billion dollar award...

Nokia and Qualcomm Settle On Courthouse Steps

Posted on July 24, 2008
From the Los Angeles Daily Journal:  Qualcomm, Nokia Settle Licensing Dispute By Craig Anderson Daily Journal Staff Writer San Diego-based Qualcomm Inc. will get a big payout from Nokia Corp. to settle a long-running dispute over how much money it should receive to allow the Finland-based cell phone maker to license its patents...

The Wages of Bad Faith Patent Litigation -- The Lawyers are Liable

Posted on July 23, 2008
Some cases just need to be tried.  See Law Firms Held Liable for Fees in 'Tissue of Lies' Patent Suit at Law.com.  Excerpt below:A federal judge has ordered a patent holder and his lawyers to pay attorney fees for bringing an infringement suit based on "nothing more than a tissue of lies...

Working for Justice in the Mediation Zone

Posted on July 22, 2008
(The World of Injustice -- the Earth and the Moon as seen from Mars)MEDIATION 'MAGIC' HAPPENS WHEN NEUTRALS REVITALIZE JUSTICE ISSUES FORUM COLUMN By Victoria Pynchon  There comes a point in every mediation when the attorneys need help in understanding their clients and the clients need to be reminded of the limitations the legal process imposes on everyone's efforts to resolve the conflict at hand...

Qualcomm v. Nokia: Let the Games Begin

Posted on July 22, 2008
(image from Engadget Mobile post Qualcomm suit kindly asks Nokia to halt U.S. GSM sales)From the American Lawyer Daily:Nokia and Qualcomm To Start Trial Wednesday The rivalry between Nokia and Qualcomm is the IP-geek equivalent of Yankees versus Red Sox or Lakers v...

One Man's Piracy is Another's Business Opportunity

Posted on July 21, 2008
We LOVE the law here at the IP ADR Blog.  And we're huge supporters of the Rule of Law as society's Great Leveller.  We're not, however, all that enamoured of lawsuits as a means to create business opportunity or to stem business losses...

BARBIE AND BRATZ -- SISTERS AT LAST?

Posted on July 18, 2008
 MATTEL WINS FIRST PHASE OF TRIAL, BUT SO WHAT?[Great photo from the Telegraph.co.uk's January 2007 article Spoilt Bratz.]The federal jury in the Dueling Dollies copyright war has returned a major victory today for Mattel -- a unanimous verdict -- finding that Bratz designer Carter Bryant (who wisely settled out early) came up with his initial drawings and prototypes for the Bratz doll while he was an employee of Mattel...

Using Social Psychology to Win Your Next IP Negotiation

Posted on July 15, 2008
Using Social Psychology to "Win" Your Next Negotiation - Get more Business Plans

Negotiating by Email? Think Again!

Posted on July 15, 2008
The Perils of Using Email in Litigation - Get more Legal FormsEnlarge by clicking on upper right hand arrow.

What's Risk Got to Do with It?

Posted on July 14, 2008
Considering a settlement?  Conducting a risk analysis?  Pay attention to those cognitive biases.From Psychology today -- 10 Ways We Get the Odds Wrong Our brains are terrible at assessing modern risks. Here's how to think straight about dangers in your midst...

AP, Drudge Retort Resolve Copyright Dispute as AP Continues Dialogue with Bloggers

Posted on July 11, 2008
Sometimes lawsuits, demand letters and take down notices have a larger purpose than simply making a claim against a single individual.  Whether or not AP intended to engage the entire blogging community in a public conversation about fair use of copyrighted news content content, engage them it did...

IP Risk Management: Protection, Protection, Protection

Posted on July 10, 2008
When I was practicing, I'd tell my clients that litigators and trial lawyers were the profession's surgeons.  We were the people they wanted to avoid because surgery is costly and potentially life-threatening.  Transactional lawyers, I stressed, were the Internists of the profession and they should be consulted early and often...

1.52 Billion Reasons to Settle that Patent Infringement Suit

Posted on July 09, 2008
From the AmLaw Daily, we learn that Kirkland & Ellis on the Sidelines as Alcatel-Lucent Seeks To Reinstate $1.52 Billion Verdict Last year Kirkland & Ellis IP partner John Desmarais won some serious bragging rights when a California jury awarded his client Alcatel-Lucent $1...

The Best ADR is Prevention and Harvard's Educational Fair Use Project is a Good Start

Posted on July 08, 2008
Thanks to LexMonitor for sending us to Rebecca Tushnet's 43(B)log  alerting us to Harvard's  Right To Teach: an Educational Fair Use Project.  We've often said that the best alternative to litigation is prevention -- here the attempt to create a "Statement of Best Practices" that willhelp draw to the surface and articulate a consensus in the academic community about the scope and limitations of user rights in a contemporary culture that is, on the one hand, increasingly participatory and technologically innovative and, on the other hand, increasingly marked by the expansion and tightening of traditional copyright...

IP Soap Opera: Time to Tune Up Your Harassment Policies

Posted on July 08, 2008
Thanks to the Amlaw Daily (courtesy of writer Nate Raymond) for bringing us this shocking news -- Kasowitz Benson: Former IP Head Harassed 12 WomenThe former head of intellectual property at Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman sexually harassed at least 12 female employees at the firm--including making advances on seven of them in one night--before he was fired in December, according to a lawsuit filed Monday by the firm...

Negotiating Planning

Posted on June 30, 2008
There's a lot of meat to put on these bones but this set of suggestions for pre-negotiation preparation is a good start.  It's applicability to IP negotiations next.PRE-NEGOTIATION TIPS – MEMORY JOGGERS 2  (summary) document each party’s goals, attitudes, limitations and the known or likely opening stance of each side…  develop a negotiation strategy by Listing possible solutions for your negotiating partner Listing likely repercussions for both parties defining possible areas of agreement brainstorming underlying mutual needs or common ground...

Why Use an Expert IP Mediator? Let the Harvard Negotiation Law Review Tell You How

Posted on June 30, 2008
EXPERIENCED INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MEDIATORS: INCREASINGLY ATTRACTIVE IN TIMES OF PATENT UNPREDICTABILITY  Winter 2008  (Westlaw Link Here)Thanks to Ms. Tran for citing to the IP ADR Blog's Interview with Jay Taylor:  Interview by Victoria Pynchon with Jay Taylor, Partner in IP Practice, Ice Miller LLP (July 13, 2007)...

Mediation Gone Wilder

Posted on June 30, 2008
Generally, we mediators like to consider mediation as a safe process, one where the parties can be candid with one another, where they can say what they think, where they can develop and explore options, where they can even apologize if necessary, all without fear that their statements will be used against them later in court...

Domain Name Disputes: You Tube, CTV and American Girl Decided by Arbitrators from the National Arbitration Forum

Posted on June 24, 2008
What follows is a Press Release from the National Arbitration ForumMINNEAPOLIS, June 24, 2008—The National Arbitration Forum issued decisions on the rights to YouTube.net, CTV.com, and AmericanGirl.net. Conflicts over domain names are on the rise...

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