Anderson

As we all know, Brexit happened yesterday (I guess depending on your time zone).  I am disappointed by the vote, but that is democracy.  It was relatively close, but over 17 million voters unhappy with the status quo is significant.  I am not a European IP attorney, but I thought it might be helpful to collect some of the links to advice concerning the IP fallout from Brexit.  Here are a few:  Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Carl Oppendahl Afro IP via Darren Olivier (Brexit implications for Africa) Fashion Law Blog Olswang Foley & Lardner via National Law Review Kluwer Patent Law Blog Shepherd Wedderburn Bird and Bird World Intellectual Property Review

The efficient collateralization of intellectual property is a way for small and medium size enterprises to obtain financing for continued expansion, and additional research and development.  As reported by Ellie Wilson on the  IPKat blog , a loan with IP as collateral was recently approved in Singapore. The Press Release from the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore states:  While using tangible assets such as machinery and inventory to apply for loan financing is a common practice for companies, using intangible assets in the form of patents is a recent development. 3.      Singaporean entrepreneur, patent owner, founder and Group Chief Executive Officer of Masai Group International, Mr Andy Chaw, shared, “We are honoured to be the first company in Singapore to have successfully obtained the IP financing to unlock the value of our intellectual property. With the financing, we will continue to invest and strengthen our global IP portfol...

This is a good basketball time to be from Northeastern Ohio. This blogger, having grown up in the Cleveland, Ohio area, is basking in the victory of the hometown Cleveland Cavaliers in the finals of the National Basketball Association playoffs. The final game of the series on Sunday evening attracted one of the largest television viewing audiences ever for a basketball game. Lebron James , the leader of the Cavaliers, makes Croesus-like amounts of money. While others do not earn his gargantuan sums, the compensation being paid to professional athletes is such, that it raises the question: is this sustainable? Based on a recent piece by Louis Menand (“Show Them the Money: Is the sports business a bubble?”) about the financial structure of professional sports, which appeared in the May 16, 2016 issue of The New Yorker magazine, the answer may be “no”. Relying on the analysis set forth by Matthew Futterman in his book , “Players: the Story of Sports and Money, and the Visionaries W...

Ali Qassim authored an article titled, "Expect Frequent Fast Injunctions in China, Says US Lawyer," on June 7, 2016 published in Bloomberg BNA .  The article reported on the remarks of a Beijing based-US attorney at a conference concerning the availability of remedies, including injunctions in China [behind a pay wall]. Today, June 17, 2016, Eva Dou of the Wall Street Journal has reported in an article titled, "Beijing Halts Sales of iPhone 6, Citing Patent Infringement" that a regulator in Beijing has issued an injunction against the sale of the iPhone 6 for infringing a design patent of Shenzhen Baili.  The article notes:  It wasn’t immediately clear what impact the order would have. Some mobile-phone stores in the city said they had already stopped selling the two models months ago, switching to newer models. Apple will soon end production of both models, according to a person familiar with the production plans. According to The Street , shares of Apple are fall...

This blogger has for some time been considering the question of how trademarks and brands are connected to innovation. From WIPO on down, the mantra has been that the connection between the two is robust. But in this blogger’s view, the relationship between them is far from self-evident. In particular, we have suggested that the kinds of innovation fostered by brands are found only in a narrow range of circumstances, where a strong brand may be leveraged to support a product extension or, less frequently, a new product line, that rises to the level of an innovation. Moreover, this tends to occur most frequently in the consumer products space, leaving a broad swathe of product categories unaffected. If this be true, the role played by brands in innovation may be of less importance than often stated. Against this background, this blogger was fascinated by a piece that appeared in The Economist on March 12, 2016 (“Things are looking app”). The upshot is that the relationship betwe...

The Denver Post has published an interesting article titled, "Yahoo Lines Up Bids for About 3,000 Patents."  The article discusses recent efforts by Yahoo to publicize the sale of almost 3,000 patents and pending applications by auction assisted by Black Stone IP.  Notably, some of the patents "date back to 1996" the company's founding--which begs the question about remaining term length--and cover the core search business of Yahoo.  This patent sale is separate from the core business sale and represents a significant difference in value, according to the article.  The estimates of the value of the core business was placed at around $4 to $8 billion apparently with (most of) the patents.  Verizon supposedly bid $3 billion, but this did not include the patents for sale.  So, does that mean the patents are valued between $1 and $5 billion?  In valuing around 2,000 of the patents, Maulin Shah of Envision IP arrived at a figure between $965 million and $1....

Our friend at Oxfirst , Roya Ghafele , has let us know about another timely webinar sponsored by Oxfirst.  The brilliant Dr. Eleanor Rosati , Lecturer at University of Southhampton will present “ Neighbouring rights for publishers: are national and (possible) EU initiatives lawful?”. A description of the talk states: Currently the EU Commission is considering whether a neighbouring right for publishers – whether in the press sector alone or also other sectors – should be proposed for adoption at the EU level. Against this background, this talk discusses: (1) the compatibility with EU law of national legislative initiatives that have resulted in the creation of ad hoc rights for press publishers; and (2) whether a neighbouring right for publishers may be adopted at the EU level and, if so, what changes of the copyright acquis are required. It concludes that, while the former may be contrary to Member States’ obligations under EU law, the latter may be pursued by amending releva...

In a recent blog post " Nothing New Under the Sun: “Patent Trolls” Have Been Around Forever," I discussed Professor Zorina Khan's review of Nineteenth century patent assertion entities.  In a recent essay , Professor Adam Mossoff of George Mason University Law School provides another supportive account of patent licensing and secondary markets in the Nineteenth century.  Specifically, Professor Mossoff, in a short and readable paper, "calls out" those commentators who assert that the "patent licensing business model" is a new phenomena. Professor Mossoff summarizes and reviews Professor Khan's research as well as the research of other historians that demonstrates there really is nothing new (at least not much) in the world of patents.  Professor Mossoff provides the example of three inventors who licensed their patents.  He discusses Charles Goodyear (process for vulcanized rubber), Elias Howe, Jr. (lockstitch in sewing machines), and Thomas Alva...