Anderson

As the world turns on intellectual property, Trump has refocused efforts on China and intellectual property.   He apparently leaned off China supposedly because of concerns with obtaining China’s help with North Korea.   Now he’s apparently back on track.   Interestingly, The New York Times has recently published a strongly worded Op-Ed by Dennis C. Blair (“former director of national intelligence and a former commander in chief of the United States Pacific Command”) and Keith Alexander (“former commander of the United States Cyber Command and a former director of the National Security Agency”) titled, “China’s Intellectual Property Theft Must Stop.”   The Op-Ed is strong endorsement for Trump’s focus on China’s asserted intellectual property theft.   The Op-Ed states in part: Chinese companies, with the encouragement of official Chinese policy and often the active participation of government personnel, have been pillaging the intellectual property of Americ...

Trump has nominated Andrei Iancu to lead the United States Patent and Trademark Office.  Mr. Iancu is managing partner of the very well respected Los Angeles based law firm Irell and Manella.  Irell and Manella is home to one of the leading intellectual property law litigators in the United States: Morgan Chu .  Here are a few observations about this pick: 1) former Chief Judge of the Federal Circuit, Randall Rader, was not chosen; 2) Andrei Iancu is based on the west coast in Los Angeles; 3) His clients are from many different industries: biotechnology companies, medical device companies, medical research institutions, computer hardware and software companies, and internet companies; 4) He's handled at least one trademark matter and appears mostly to handle patent cases; 5) He co-teaches patent law at UCLA Law School; 6) He has written a number of papers of varying length concerning patents, including inter partes review proceedings, software patentability an...

There are two interesting valuation seminars coming up.   The first is by the American Intellectual Property Law Association and is free.   It is tomorrow, Wednesday, August 22, 2017 and remote participation is possible.   The event is titled, “Assessing the Value of Intellectual Property in Rapidly Changing Markets and Law.”   Here is a summary of the event: Rapidly changing markets and products affect the value of intellectual property.  Traditional methods of valuation are highly challenged, as comparable transactions, costs to develop "equivalent" IP and measuring income streams are all compromised by abbreviated time lines.  So, too, innovation at an increasing pace in certain sectors and rapidly changing intellectual property law (Alice, PTAB developments) heavily impact valuation approaches and outcomes.  Listen to our panel discuss these intriguing challenges. The Speakers: Philip W. Kline of 284 Partners, LLC; Brian Scarpelli...

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has released a report titled, “PATENT ELIGIBLE SUBJECT MATTER:   REPORT ON VIEWS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THEPUBLIC” (Report) concerning the comments of participants at USPTO sponsored roundtables concerning the patent eligible subject matter requirement, particularly post-Alice/Mayo.   The USPTO summary of the Report states: Much of the feedback we received highlighted the complexities of determining the appropriate boundaries of patent subject matter eligibility. Commenters confirmed that the recent Supreme Court cases have significantly changed the standards for determining patent subject matter eligibility. Several commenters expressed concern that these decisions have created inconsistency, uncertainty, and unpredictability in the issuance and enforcement of patents, particularly in the life sciences, software, and e-commerce industries. A diverse group of representatives from academia, industry, law firms, and leg...

The National Association of Colleges and University Business Officers has released its report concerning U.S. University Endowment Size in 2016.   The top 10 in endowment size, include: 1) Harvard ($34,541,893,000); 2) Yale ($25,408,600,000); 3) University of Texas System ($24,203,213,000); 4) Stanford ($22,398,130,000); 5) Princeton ($22,152,580,000); 6) MIT ($13,181,515,000); 7) University of Pennsylvania ($10,715,364,000); 8) Texas A&M University System ($10,539,526,000); 9) University of Michigan ($9,743,461,000); and 10) Northwestern ($9,648,497,000).   I recently reported on top universities for patenting in the U.S. in 2016. The top 10 of the list includes: 1) The Regents of the University of California: 505 patents; 2) MIT: 278; 3) Stanford: 244; 4) Cal Tech: 201; 5) Tsinghua University/Graduate School at Shenzen: 181; 6) Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation: 168; 7) John Hopkins: 167; 8) University of Texas: 162; 9) University of Michigan: 142; and 10) Columbia...

The BBC has a wonderful video of a “patent burning” outside the United States Patent and Trademark Office.   Who is burning patents?   American inventors who are protesting the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), once called the, “Patent Death Squad,” by former Chief Judge Randall Rader.   The inventors are upset that the PTAB is killing the American Dream and are making an appeal to President Trump to overturn the Obama Administration’s creation.   (Yes, it is the PTAB not skyrocketing home ownership costs that is ruining the American dream.  I guess that bubble will pass as well.)   This is a nice angle to take since getting the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn itself is much more difficult.   I wonder how attempts to overturn Alice legislatively are doing in Congress.  

In another attempt to create an efficient marketplace for patents, Aqua Licensing is offering access to a substantial portfolio of patents—“more than 60,000.”   The patents are part of the portfolios of AT&T, Rambus, Lenovo and Entegris, among others.   According to the Aqua Licensing website: Startups submit business plans to the pool as they would to a venture capital investor, at which point the team of patent experts at AQUA identify IP assets that will improve the defensive position of the company and contribute to its long-term growth and value potential. When a match is made, the IP is offered to the startup in exchange for equity, rather than cash, as part of their next-round of financing. This structure enables the startup to secure the Strategic IP Investment from the technology leader prior to pricing the financing round, allowing the benefits of the secured IP and strategic investment to be reflected in the valuation of that round. In many cases this allow f...

The Trump Administration suspended an Obama Administration program about to go in effect that would provide visas to entrepreneur immigrants.   According to the Wharton School of Business , the program would help create jobs in the United States and had little downside.   The program is apparently similar to others created in Canada, France and Argentina.   Notably, the Trump Administration is supporting new legislation to radically reform the immigration system in the United States by moving to a supposed “merit” based system designed to reduce immigration by 50%.   The Wharton School of Business states: Immigrants make up about 12% of the U.S. working population, [Hsu] added. Among STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) workers, immigrants make up 24% of bachelors and 47% of doctorates, he continued. “So [immigrant entrepreneurs] are punching above their weight in the talent pool for the workforce that we desire in the U.S.,” he said. He pointed to one ...