Intellectual Property Law

Mediawiki as a Patent Law Firm?s Knowledge Management System

Posted on May 29, 2008
The Law has a number of maxims. For instance, “in court, never ask a question you don’t already know the answer to.” One of my favorites is “never do work someone else has already done for you.” I’ve followed that (later) one to the letter…compiling hundreds of “nutshells,” “summaries,” and “cheat-sheets” stored [...

QuickLinks for 27 May 2008

Posted on May 27, 2008
Thumbs up for having time to blog again… ALPS on Ethics and Flash Drives Good reminder from a legal insurance provider of the exposer a lost flash drive (thumb drive) could cost you (an attorney).  Do you encrypt your thumb drive? Windows Vista ReadyBoost - Using a thumb drive [...

Reason number one to build a law school in Boise?

Posted on May 16, 2008
The rush is on to build a law school in Boise, with the University of Idaho and Concordia University (Portland) clamoring to be first. Sounding like it came straight from a Letterman Top Ten list, Concordia apparently has one very interesting rationale for choosing Boise… Concordia University has a history with Idaho, from enrolling its [...

Practice Tip: Read PLI Lawyer?s Toolbox

Posted on April 29, 2008
I’m starting work outlining a future CLE/Article on “Online Resources and Tools That Will Make You a More Competent and Skilled Patent Practitioner.” Here’s one resource I highly recommend: PLI Lawyer’s Toolbox provides indispensable weekly practice tools to help you seal the deal for your clients...

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TGIF: Cat O?Nine Tails

Posted on April 18, 2008
Which is creepier?  The fact that “cat o’nine tails” is an actual identification listed in the “Trademark Acceptable Identification of Goods & Services” OR the fact that 38 trademarks included it in their listing of goods/services? One of those trademarks is a pending design for “AEROFLOT RUSSIAN AIRLINES” (Ser...

Zimmerman?s Research Guide ? Patents

Posted on April 15, 2008
Nice summary! This entry is divided into three sections - (1) Getting U.S. Patent Materials; [...]

New blog??SOLO Independent IP Practitioners?

Posted on April 09, 2008
SOLO Independent IP Practitioners — “A community discussion group for sole IP practitioners, wherever they are in the world - whether in their own businesses or working for others - as well as new small firms on a growth curve.” [via Inter-Alia] [Originally posted on The Invent [...

Free, worldwide patent search site ? NEW

Posted on April 03, 2008
PriorSmart.com [Originally posted on The Invent Blog. Copyright © Nipper, LLC 2004-2007. All Rights Reserved.]

USPTO Loses Continuation Rules Lawsuit

Posted on April 02, 2008
see more icanhascheezburger.com Details: Patent Prospector - Twarted Patently-O - Tafas v. Dudas: PTO’s Proposed Limitations on Continuations and Claims are Invalid 271 Patent Blog - *** USPTO Continuation Ruled Dead (For Now) *** [Originally posted on The Invent Blog...

Some software I recommend?

Posted on April 01, 2008
7-Zip [http://7zip.com/] — Free, open source program for opening zip, rar, 7z, gzip, etc files. Alternatiff - The plug in for Internet Explorer/Firefox which allows you to view patent images from the Patent Office’s website [http://www.alternatiff...

QuickLinks for 31-Mar-2008

Posted on March 31, 2008
A couple great resources on the use of /S/ Signatures: USPTO PDF Explaining Good, Bad and Ugly /S/ Signature Examples Patent Attorney Joy L. Bryant on "The S-Signature" TSheets.com Online Timesheet Software — A Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) application that turns any computer or mobile device in to a timeclock...

QuickLinks for 27-Mar-2008

Posted on March 27, 2008
A Whole Lotta Nothing ? ReCAPTCHA?s quality is going down? Matt Haughey (MetaFilter, PVRBlog) questioning MetaFilter’s use of reCAPTCHA due to impossible to read challenge words. See also:  InventBlog - Public Pair/reCaptcha’s unintended consequences...

Google Image Labeler ? Community Intellectual Property Cops?

Posted on March 26, 2008
Google has a new “product” in beta. Called the “Google Image Labeler,” it is “a feature of Google Search that allows you to label images and help improve the quality of Google’s image search results.” You are partnered with another person and are shown a series of images over a two-minute period...

Calculating When A Patent Expires?

Posted on March 26, 2008
Hat tip Doug, Michael Neustel has a new site…PatentCalculator.com that allows you to input a patent’s filing date/issue date and determine the expiration date and maintenance fee dates. See also “How to determine when a patent expires...

QuickLinks ? Rethinking the Practice of Law

Posted on March 20, 2008
The Monster Blog: Workdays Should Be Based on Results — Not Input Makes me think…is "Results-Only Work Environment" something a law firm could use? To me, ROWE would be telling an associate, I don’t care what hours you are in the office, how many days a week, whether you work from home, etc…as long as [...

Upcoming CLE: Las Vegas!

Posted on March 10, 2008
I’ll be speaking in Las Vegas next month (April 11th) for Dunes, speaking at their Patent Drafting & Prosecution CLE on “Tips and Tricks for Expediting Examination of Your Clients’ Cases.” Summary of my presentation: Let?s face it, clients can be driven crazy by how long it takes these days to get a patent...

What is up with all of these ?QuickLink? posts?

Posted on March 06, 2008
Some of you have probably been wondering about the “QuickLink” posts I’ve made recently… This blog has really been a way for me to share with my readers (peers) links to stories and information I found interesting and useful in my practice/life...

QuickLinks for 6-Mar-2008

Posted on March 06, 2008
LifeHacker: Create Your Own Cross-Platform Backup Server Walks you through how to take an old computer you don’t need and using open source software create a “box” that automatically backs up computers on your network for you. Steve’s Tech Guide — The Ultimate Windows XP Optimization Tweak Guide Twenty different tweaks and optimizations to make your XP [...

QuickLinks for 29-Feb-2008

Posted on February 29, 2008
MAKE: Blog: Public domain donor Funny concept…intellectual property meets organ donor cards. Adventures in $40 eyeglasses | 43 Folders While patent outsourcing is a joke (IMO), outsourcing things like having eye glasses made is a hot topic on the Internet right now...

How much does a patent cost?

Posted on February 29, 2008
According to Alan Kasper, the First Vice President of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA), more than I expected. In recent testimony before Congress, Mr. Kasper noted that: …the preparation and filing of an original application of minimal complexity (10 page specification, 10 claims) on average by a firm having my firm?s size is [...

QuickLinks 26-Feb-2008

Posted on February 26, 2008
Intellectual Property Today: 5 Reasons You Should No Longer Bother Getting U.S. Patents Ending the Paper Chase | ABA Journal - Law News Now — article on law firms having smaller eco-footprints ABA: Going Green at Work by Kibert–baby steps lawyers can take to be a greener law firm [...

Blawgr is back. Think Blawg meet Digg.

Posted on February 23, 2008
Tech Law Advisor noting that Blawgr is back. This time reskinned as “the online community of legal bloggers (powered by Pligg).” Unless I’m mistaken, Pligg is an open source knock-off of Digg (http://digg.com/), making Blawgr essentially Digg for Lawyers...

QuickLinks for 23-Feb-2008

Posted on February 23, 2008
IP Newsflash Relaunch Rolf Claessen has relaunched IP Newsflash with a brand new design and new features, including a free class monitor for EP publications. [Originally posted on The Invent Blog. Copyright © Nipper, LLC 2004-2007. All Rights Reserved...

QuickLinks

Posted on February 21, 2008
Boosting teamwork with wikis It’s not just for online encyclopedias: smart business owners (including law firms) use the new wiki software to encourage collaboration and save money.  Adam Wright. - How Outlook keeps me organized How to use Outlook filters and flags to automate your inbox...

Flowcharts on IP for Clients?

Posted on February 18, 2008
Add this to my to do list! Law Department Management blog on “Uses of flow charts and short summaries, including to explain choices to clients.” Reminds me of: Erik J. Heels’ “Drawing that Explains Copyright Law,” or Bromberg-Sunstein’s “Flowchart for determining when U...

Google Patents Now with Published Applications, and Green Tea Extract

Posted on February 14, 2008
According to the Patent Librarian’s Notebook, Google Patents now includes published applications. A quick search confirms! [Originally posted on The Invent Blog. Copyright © Nipper, LLC 2004-2007. All Rights Reserved.]

Case Law Copies (Free), Responding to Improper Final Office Actions, Compacting Outlook Data Files

Posted on February 13, 2008
Free the cases! http://bulk.rsource.org is a project where they are creating a free database of federal case law decisions. Bob Ambrogi notes it already has 1,800,000 pages of case law.  Cases you can download for free: F2d (The Federal Reporter, 2nd Edition) F3d (The Federal Reporter, 3rd Edition) US (US Reports) Patentably Defined Blog on “Improper Final [...

CLE Webcast on Patent Licensing

Posted on February 11, 2008
The Idaho State Bar has recently started webcasting many of their CLEs.  So far, it seems that many lawyers are opting to watch the presentation from their desk, rather than attend in person.    Of note to my readers might be this upcoming CLE:  Ten Things Every Lawyer Should Know About Patent Licensing by Steven Johnson from [...

Blawg Review #146

Posted on February 10, 2008
Welcome to Blawg Review #146. This is actually my second time hosting Blawg Review…I was party to the infamous Blawg Review #48 (hosted by the group blawg RethinkIP (with Matt and Doug ). Note to self, not everyone appreciates it when you try to “Rethink” Blawg Review...

Patent Pal Patent Searching Toolbar

Posted on February 09, 2008
PatentHawk points us to Patent Pal, a web browser toolbar for patent searching.  [hat tip Bill] The Patent Pal is a free resource for the patent community. It contains over 20 unique patent related searches. These searches include Google Patents, FreePatentsOnline, Esp@cenet, WIPO, Pat2Pdf, the MPEP, and many more...

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