Anderson

Google and Intertrust have announced the creation of Patent Shield, which is designed to protect startups.   Essentially, the exchange is access to a patent portfolio for an equity stake in the startup.   It seems to put startups in the position of a much more resourced company with a portfolio of patents and presumably freedom to operate.   This appears to be another attempt to get ahead of something like the patent troll problem; however, it seems to be aimed at patent demands from entities that are practicing not absolute non-practicing entities because the portfolio is supposed to provide leverage against the entity asserting infringement initially.   Interestingly, this appears to be a great way for Google and Intertrust to find licensing partners for their patented technology without looking like a “bad guy” by operating through patent demand letters—let them come to us.   Very clever.   It also gives Intertrust the opportunity to offer its IP ...

The U.S. Government Accounting Office (GAO) has issued a report titled, “Financial Technology: Information on Subsectors and Regulatory Oversight.”   The GAO Report provides a description of the FinTech industry broken down by sector.   The sectors include: Marketplace Lending; Mobile Payments; Digital Wealth Management; and Distributed Ledger Technology.   For each sector, the Report describes “what it is and how it works”; “who uses it”; “potential benefits”; “potential risks”; “industry trends” and “oversight and regulation.”   The introduction to the Report states: Advances in technology and the widespread use of the Internet and mobile communication devices have helped fuel the growth in financial technology (fintech) products and services. Consumer access to these new technologies has resulted in changes in their preferences and expectations regarding how they conduct financial transactions, such as using their smartphones to make payments or purchases. Fintech...

Unless South Africa's Advertising Standards Authority receive $680 000 in funding before the end of the month, an application will be launched to liquidate the non-profit which will likely see the collapse of the self regulated body, and concern then that advertising and packaging disputes will be left to the state and the courts. The ASA and its business rescue partners are launching a fund raiser tomorrow for the bail-out. Here is what you need to know about how the ASA got to this position, what they need to get out of it and how they propose restructuring the business going forward to ensure it remains solvent and relevant: The ASA is a non profit body that has been in existence for 50 years, set up to assist self regulate advertising disputes. When working effectively it has allowed for speedy and relatively inexpensive dispute resolution for both competitors and consumers. On 21 October 2016 , the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) went into Business Rescue (an ...

What happened to the idea of the " long tail ", as popularized by Chris Anderson over a decade ago? The very fact that this blogger feels the need to revisit the notion suggests the extent to which it has fallen into disfavor. In brief, Anderson’s idea contrasted the manner by which goods are typically sold in a bricks-and-mortar environment from the potential for distribution in an on-line world. The principal limiting factor in a bricks-and-mortar setting is that only a small number of products can be displayed in any given store; even within these displays, the specific placement can materially affect the sales potential of that good. What follows is that only a small number of products will be available for purchase and success is built on selling a large quantity of these limited product options. Thinking in terms of a statistical distribution, from the point of view of product sales, the two tails fall very quickly from the elevated and narrow central tendency. The...

The EMW Law Firm has released some information concerning Fintech patenting trends.   EMW states: The number of ‘fintech patents’ filed worldwide is continuing to rise sharply, reaching 9,545 in 2016*, up 6% from 9,045 filed the year before in 2015 and up 49% from 6,399 filed five years ago in 2011[.] “Fintech patents” are defined by EMW as:   “ Patents relating to banking, exchanges, investment, insurance, payment architecture and calculation of taxation, filed with the World Intellectual Property Organisation.”   For more information, please see EMW’s blog post, here .   Corporate Counsel also discusses EMW’s blog post, here .   The Corporate Counsel article notes the US lead over China in Fintech patenting.  I am still holding out hope for a publicly available report on the IP landscape for Fintech.  

The Milken Institute has released a report on April 20, 2017, titled, “Concept to Commercialization: The Best Universities for Technology Transfer.”     The Report’s Executive Summary states some conclusions concerning technology transfer and then includes recommendations based on its findings.   The Report states: Universities that succeed at technology transfer and commercialization include both public and private universities. They are spread across the country; 13 of the top 25 universities are based in red states, all are in major metropolitan areas, and all range in size. These universities can be leveraged to boost and spread middle class job creation in their home states. While innovation is not confined to blue states, blue states have been more successful in leveraging university research for economic benefit. University research funding can support the creation of both middle- and high-skill industry jobs through innovation, commercialization, and technology tr...

Uber has launched a patent purchase program called, “UB3.”   The program sounds very similar to the one founded by Google and run by Allied Security Trust.   Indeed, the announcement by Uber references the Allied Security Trust program, “IP3.”   The development of the program arrives during Uber’s much publicized suit involving Google.   Interestingly, this is perhaps a move by Uber to build a patent portfolio to be used in acquiring negotiation leverage, and thus freedom to operate.   Additionally, the value of some patents may be rising because of changing Federal Circuit law and the belief that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board at the United States Patent and Trademark Office is easing up on patents, so to speak.   Uber’s press release states: The current market for patents is extremely challenging, especially for sellers. There is a ton of friction in the secondary market for all parties, but with our new UP3 program, sellers will submit patent fami...

The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) has released its Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession (Report).   For the most part, the Report addresses salaries of professors, administrators and part-time lecturers in the United States.   Interestingly, the Report also reports on data concerning state investment in higher education.   As noted earlier, there is an innovation deficit in the United States based on a drop in federal spending on research in terms of real dollars.   And, as discussed previously , the Trump Administration budget is requesting a substantial cut in the amount of federal money invested in research.   The Report notes that after the Great Recession the amount of state funding for higher education dropped substantially.   Recently, there has been a slight overall uptick.   The uptick may be found in states that lean democratic versus republican in leadership; although this is not always the cas...

The George Washington University Center for Law, Economics, and Finance has published a helpful and accessible online fifty state survey of money transmission laws.   The aim of the product is to “lower the information costs for FinTech startups, investors, and academic researchers among many others.”   Thus, the website helpfully attempts to point out differences between the law of each state.   The site notes, “we hope this can serve as proof-of-concept for how state-based FinTech regulation can become more accessible while maintaining its biggest strength—adaptability.”   And, in an  article dated April 5, 2017 , Bloomberg reports: Almost 50 percent of financial services firms around the world plan to acquire fintech startups in the three to five years, according to a report Thursday by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. And eight out of 10 institutions foresee making strategic partnerships with peer-to-peer lenders, digital money transfer platforms, and myriad o...

As reported by Florian Mueller on the FOSS Patents Blog on April 5, a relatively new organization has been formed to raise awareness of and presumably lobby against patent assertion entities in Europe.  The organization is called Intellectual Property 2 Innovate and its members include: Adidas, Google, Intel, Bull AtWios Technologies, Proximus, Spotify, Wiko, Daimler, the European Semiconductor Industry Association, and Syndicat De Industrie Des Technologies De L'Information.  Notably, the Intellectual Property 2 Innovate website has references to a list of suits brought by patent assertion entities in Europe, media reports concerning patent assertion activity in Europe and third party studies concerning patent assertion entities in Europe.  The website includes link to a helpful seven page position paper , which states in part: Patents support innovation by allowing companies to protect their technology from copying, to share and develop new technology, and to o...

In a March 30, 2017 article , Billboard magazine breaks down recently released numbers from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) concerning the U.S. music industry.   The article notes: It looks like happy days are here again: U.S. recorded music sales were up 11.4 percent in 2016. The industry brought in $7.65 billion in revenue, according to the RIAA, up from $6.87 million in 2015. Although the music business showed signs of a recovery at the half-year mark, the 2016 year-end results show more significant growth, led by streaming revenue. This is the first time since 1998 that the U.S. industry has experienced a double digit increase in overall revenue. Back then, the industry enjoyed revenue of $13.7 billion. The article further breakdown revenues based on streaming and vinyl sales among other categories.   Notably, streaming revenue is on the upswing and is accounting for a lot of the growth.   Interestingly, the article notes that the reve...