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Results for: Sep, 2009
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Israel Still Ranks High on Patents, Despite Slump
From The Mideast News Source
Israel maintains its position as the top country in the Middle East filing for patents, despite an overall downward trend, shows UN report.
A United Nations report on patents ranked Israel top among other countries in the Middle East in terms of the number of patents filed.
The 2009 World Intellectual Property Indicators, released by the United Nations affiliated World Intellectual Property Organization, reveals that Israel ranks in the top 20 countries globally, despite a decrease of 5.8% in Israeli patent registration in the period covered by the report.
A significant percentage, almost 79%, of the patents filed by Israeli companies and persons is so called non-residential - an application filed in a patent office which is not the applicant’s national or regional office.
A majority of the patents are for medical technology such as biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. Other fields with a larges number of patents include telecommunications and semiconductors.
Israel also ranked number 12 globally on the index for patents filed per gross domestic product.
Read the entire article here
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The People's Republic will surpass the U.S. as the world's leading intellectual property marketplace
From Forbes
In 2008, more than 800,000 patent applications were filed with China's State Intellectual Property Office, by far the largest number received by any patent office in the world. In the same year, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the Japanese Patent Office, ranked second and third in terms of application numbers, receiving about 500,000 and 450,000 patent applications, respectively. The Europe Patent Office received only about 150,000 applications.
Intellectual property-related litigation is on the rise. In 2008, Chinese courts issued judgments in about 28,000 patent, trademark and other IP-related cases, an annual record. The vast majority of the cases are among Chinese litigants, who less than 30 years ago had no such way to resolve disputes. Even though the process and cost involved in Chinese IP cases are usually substantially simpler and lower than in the U.S., the numbers demonstrate not only that the Chinese are becoming more litigious, but that the legal and court systems are maturing and being more widely used to resolve disputes.
If China's quickening progress in intellectual property recently is an indicator, the next 10 years should see more historic changes. As patent and trademark applications and cases continue to grow amid healthy economic growth, China, in areas where it doesn't already, will surpass the U.S. as the world's leading market for intellectual property. That implies that Chinese companies and individuals will become a major innovation force, shedding their images as low-cost manufacturers and imitators.
Click here to read the entire article
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Patent Blogger Defamation Suit Ends In Settlement
From Business Insider
The Eastern District of Texas is known as a hotbed for patent litigation. This week, however, the Court hosted a defamation trial - involving an attorney who blogged anonymously about patent litigation.
Texas attorney Eric Albritton sued Cisco and former Cisco attorney Rick Frenkel over posts on Frenkel's Patent Troll Tracker website that suggested Albritton filed a lawsuit - against Cisco - the day before his client had rights in the relevant patent and then convinced the local clerk to alter the docket to change the filing date.
Albritton argued the posts harmed his reputation and Frenkel insisted they reflected fact and protected opinion only. Last week the Court ruled that, even though he is a private figure, Albritton would have to meet the high standard of actual malice because the posts involved an issue of public concern - the activities of the clerk's office, Law.com said. The parties reached a confidential settlement early this week, shortly before the jury was to begin deliberations.
The facts of the suit are not as interesting as the fact that it got this far - a blog written by a lawyer for a business often targeted for patent infringement suits highlights the abundance of such suits and what he felt was abusive forum-shopping. Not surprisingly, the local attorneys filing the suits took offense. Plaintiffs' attorneys and corporate defenders whine about the opposition's abuse of legal system every day - but rarely (thankfully!) do they end up airing their complaints in federal court.
Read the entire article here |
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Pluritas Will Auction Zoltar's GPS Emergency Locator Patents
From Reuters:
Zoltar Satellite Alarm Systems of Tiburon, CA has engaged Pluritas, LLC, a San
Francisco-based firm that focuses on intellectual property transactions, to
conduct an auction of all of its patents on location-aware devices using cell
phone and Global-Positioning-System (GPS) technology. The auction will commence
on Wednesday, October 14, 2009.
Zoltar, a small, privately held California firm founded in 1995, was an early
pioneer in inventing and patenting mobile personal alarms with GPS receivers in
cell phones.
Zoltar currently holds five U.S. patents and 15 international patents, with
others in the pipeline. The patents focus on a wide range of uses for
position-location, wireless communication and alarm-system technology. Zoltar`s
earliest patents include technology for cell phones that provide location
information to emergency responders.
Pluritas is a transaction advisory firm specializing in divestitures, acquisitions, and mergers where intellectual property is a major component of
the transaction. Organizations interested in Zoltar`s patent positions and the
October 14 auction, should contact Rob Aronoff at Pluritas (415-354-1760, ext.
101).
For the entire article click here
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Michael Jackson : MJs Neverland patent bid dropped
From newspostonline
Michael Jackson’s family may heave a sigh of relief since the application to trademark the name “Neverland” has reportedly been withdrawn.
Jackson’s father Joe previously lashed out at proprietors of his son’s Neverland Ranch for applying for a patent for the property without seeking the family’s approval.
According to TMZ.com, executives at private equity firm Colony Capital filed papers with the U.S. Patent Office to trademark four names for use in conjunction with the massive estate, reports the Daily Express.
Joe was left fuming, and even hinted resorting to legal action.
But that may seem unnecessary since it has now emerged that the request was dropped earlier this week.
This is a great example of how the media and lay persons confuse patents and trademarks
I hope one day they will finally get it right!! |
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Free Webinar -- The Most Litigated Patents in 2008
Sunlight Research is presenting the latest in its "Pesky Patents" Seminar Series: Six Programs on the Most Litigated Patents in 2008.
In a free webinar to be held Thursday, September 10, 2009 12:00 PM - 1:00 AM CDT they will discuss Pesky Patents owned by Rates Technology and Network Signatures.
This 45 minute webinar (plus time for questions) will include the following:
1) Background information on Rates Technology, Network Signatures and information on other patents they hold;
2) History of litigation involving the patents;
3) A review of each patent's claim coverage;
4) A discussion of claim mapping and a review of how the patent claims may be read on target technology; and
5) A review of any known prior art and any available "deep web" art.
Private practice attorneys wishing to stay abreast of the most common patent threats and non-practicing entities, businesses who have been put on notice of these patents, or firms currently defending against these patents. Businesses not yet on notice of these patents should consult with their patent counsel about the advisability of attending this seminar.
For more information and to register for the webinar please click here |
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Protecting the Patent System for Entrepreneurs
From the Ny TImes
Research shows that having patents helps young technology companies get venture capital financing. The proposed changes to the patent system might undermine investor confidence in the effectiveness of patents, which could cause them to cut back on the financing of new companies that depend on patents to protect their products and services.
The proposed changes to the patent system might make high-tech start-ups less eager to innovate. If patents are weakened, entrepreneurs will have less confidence in their ability to use the patent system to protect their new products against imitation and may respond by cutting back on their research and development spending.
Maybe Congress will realize that its time is better spent solving the problems that are ailing this country than on changing our patent system in ways that will hurt entrepreneurs.
For the rest of the article click here.
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