A trial lost, a settlement blown, and millions in attorneys' fees spent: RIM's big struggle to keep its small device on the market.
Express Route
With Tracey Thomas at the helm, American Express's patent licensing revenue has gone from zero to millions.
The Elephant in the Courtroom
To win a $465 million verdict in a trade secrets case against Toshiba, Matthew Powers made sure to avoid a key issue. (Hint: It's a secret.)
The Patent Plague
Inequitable conduct findings are on the rise, with no end in sight.
Dr. Know
Before Gary Michelson won a $1.35 billion settlement with Medtronic, he'd spent many years and millions of dollars meticulously building and protecting his patent portfolio
Pacific Heights
How California's Knobbe, Martens scaled the ranks
of our annual survey of the most active IP practices.
The Mod Squad
"Modding" software lets users fiddle with video games. Some game makers think that this is infringement. The courts are notoriously unclear on the issue.
Focus on Europe
Cell Break
The European cell phone patent empire is in decline, and a nasty suit over those patents has started.
Missing the Mark
The Madrid Protocol's been a flop here: Why aren't U.S. companies using the international system for registering trademarks?
Trading Ideas in Britain
Two public companies. One common business strategy. Two different fates. Lesson: IP licensing is a fickle business.
Patent Litigation Survey: The Expanding IP Universe
Last year the scope, size, and frequency of litigation grew.
The winners of our annual survey are filing more cases than ever.
Running Interference
Battle of the Clones: When two biotech companies claimed ownership of the patents for Dolly the sheep, they took the dispute to the PTO for an interference hearing--an obscure, arcane, and increasingly rare practice that is often more effective than litigation in knocking out a competitor's patent.
(Pet) Food Fight
Linda Addison scooped up a $3.6 million verdict and an injunction in a dispute over a patent for dog and cat confections.
The Blurry Biotech Line
Congress and the patent office both prohibit patents on humans, but in a world of chimeras, stem cells, and clones, what it means to be human isn't always clear.
The State of Change
Patent reform is in the air, and this time the momentum for
reform may be enough to make something happen. A proponent for change outlines the proposals.
Editor's Note
Lord of the Floss
In the past year Harold Weinberger has posted a 4-0 record representing some of the most heavily advertised consumer brands in the country, including Crest's Whitestrips, Reach dental floss, and Acuvue contact lenses.
Can You Keep a Secret?
As the Apple case demonstrates, the Internet makes trade secret protection a challenge.
Back Off, Big Apple
New York takes a bite out of trademark law.
Bar Talk
An IP grassroots movement uses environmentalism as a model, and local pubs as a forum.
Editor's Note
Brand Grab
Gallup let its trademark slip away overseas. TNS snatched it up. Can the polling company win back its name
Unleashed
European legislators just wanted to clarify a point of law. Instead they started a passionate debate that threatens the existence of software patents.
Taking Statistics
Does Major League Baseball own player statistics?
Some say it's a fantasy.
Three Little Companies That Could
In these stories, the underdog came out on top.
Chip & Dip
Intergraph Corporation stood up to Intel Corp. and brought in $865 million.
Grounded
A challenge from Honeywell International almost flattened Sandel,
a tiny avionics start-up.
Patent Trap
American Biophysics's Mosquito Magnet kill insects; its lawyers treat patent infringers similarly.
Darwin Was Right: Adapt or Die
A lesson in law firm Darwinism: Take a venerated, staid practice area and add aggressive competition. For IP boutiques it's survival of the fittest.
Got Fame?
Why a niche theory of fame undermines the Federal Trademark Dilution Act.
The Q Factor
PatentRatings annual take on who prosecutes the highest quality patents
The Trouble with Cyberstorage
Should e-mail accounts perish along with their owners? A corporal's death starts a conversation about electronic rights.
Editor's Note
Big Splash
MPEG LA's first patent pool pulls in millions of dollars. Now the licensing company is wading into the murky waters of digital rights management, and making a royalty splash won't be easy.
In our roundtable, lawyers and experts discuss how to extract value from IP. Warning: As one participant says, this isn't for the faint of heart.
Don't Believe the Hype
The patent system still fosters innovation.
Grand Opening
Procter & Gamble once kept R&D close to the vest. Now outlicensing is driving its growth.
The Marlboro Man
Jack Holleran smokes out counterfeiters at Philip Morris. Plus: Brand-protection strategies at Coca-Cola, GE, McDonald's, and Microsoft.
Smart Pills: Brand Building
Making a trademark last forever takes more than good lawyering
Life Cycles
Biotech clients demand discounts and face time. Their lawyers say they wouldn't have it any other way.
Giant Slayer
After a stunning win against Glaxo, Ranbaxy's IP chief takes on Pfizer.
Editor's Note
Who Protects IP America
Howrey, Finnegan, and Kirkland land on top of our fifth-annual survey of the Fortune 250. But the three firms by no means dominate the IP market.
Trial Tips: Winning Plays
Morgan Chu explains how he scored an $82 million jury verdict against Sony in a battle over video game technology.
Don't Sue the Customers
The music industry lawsuits against individuals have not stemmed the rising tide of illegal downloads.
Editor's Note
IP Architects
Genentech walked away from its first licensing pact with Agensys. Alan Mendelson and Kate Murashige helped bring the biotech back to the table.
Getting to the Core of Apple's Dispute with RealNetworks
Questions for former patent czar Bruce Lehman.
How to Value a Research Tool
What to consider when licensing patents that may or may not strike gold.
Blind Spots
Amr Mohsen may have been the client from hell. He concocted fraudulent evidence to bolster his patent infringement suit and was indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice. Then he was charged with ordering a hit on a federal judge. Why did his topflight team of lawyers stick with him as long as they did?
Tech Survey: Software Shuffle
A few companies dominate the docketing space. But new vendors, updated products, and a changing IP landscape are shaking up the competition.
Editor's Note
Master Work
Protecting MasterCard's trademark has been a collaborative effort between Baker Botts and the company's in-house lawyers for decades.
Fish Flounders
A steady stream of lawyers have left Fish & Neave in the past 18 months.
Trial Tips: Pumping up the Patents
The technology behind the Aero Bed wasn't complicated, but that only made William Frankel's job more difficult.
Focus Asia: In Bloom
Viagra's Upside
Rejecting Pfizer's patent was a sign of progress in China.
Land of the Rising Patent Suit
Once strictly on the defensive, Japanese companies are increasingly initiating litigation.
Taiwan is the New Japan
Orrick is one of many firms looking for clients in Taipei.
Editor's Note
Back From the Dead
How InterTrust wrestled $440 million from Microsoft and kept its patent licensing dreams alive--for now.
Summation: Supreme Wisdom
Advice from Sandra Day O'Connor helped Pamela Deese transition from trade lawyer to licensing maven.
Patent Strategy: IP Rights in 30 Days
Filing a patent application in Geneva can quickly solve an IP emergency in the U.S.
Smart Pills: Protecting IP Rights Overseas
Local courts are just one tool in a box of remedies available to U.S. companies seeking to protect themselves in foreign locations.
Operation Munich
Jones Day wants to export American-style patent prosecution to Europe. Will it work? Will other firms follow?
Editor's Note
Fuzzy Math
Calculating damages involves more speculation than a gold rush. A look inside four recent patent cases uncovers some of the mystery. Plus, profiles of two economic damages experts.
Smart Pills: Choose Wisely
In patent litigation a good expert witness teaches judges and juries complex technologies, plans litigation strategy, and can even drive a case to settlement.
Trial Tips: Keeping it Simple
How William Lee took a complex technology, turned it into a cartoon, and convinced a jury to take his side against defendant Hewlett-Packard.
Drug Wars
In our roundtable, pharma lawyers dissect the changes in
Hatch-Waxman, the costs of patent litigation, and the blurring line between generic and branded drug companies.
Brave Face
Applied Biosystems's Paul Grossman stays cool while the company's multimillion-dollar patents burn out.
PTO Update: A Second Look
The reexamination process may be in need of a
reexamination.
By Stephen Maebius, Sean Passino,
and Harold Wegner
Just Can't Get Enough
Acacia has a slick sales pitch and dozens of licensees. But the company has yet to reap riches from its streaming media patents.
By Alexandra Dell
Carb Loading
Strange Brew
The defense attorney had a heart attack, the original judge and lead lawyers were gone, and the plaintiff's star witness was a psychedelic scientist. In the midst of the madness Matthew Powers and Edward Reines managed to win
a $19.8 million verdict for Applied Biosystems.
By Alan Cohen
The Hydra-Headed Patent Case
Roche's fight to hold on to PCR is popping up in courtrooms all over the country.
By Matt Fleischer-Black
Editor's Note/July 2004
Biotech's Back/June 2004
After a long slump, deal work is picking up. There four lawyers make sure the IP angle is covered.
Smart Pills: Shifting the Balance
The Nakamura case dramatically illustrates how Japanese patent law can sometimes favor inventors over their employers. U.S. inventors aren't as lucky.
By Paul Morico and Thomas Morrow
Trial Tips: Bringing Back the Dead
How David Helfrey figured out a way to bring a key witness back to life and win a $15 million verdict.
By Susan Hansen
Inside IP: Battle Royale
Lee Patch headed up a mammoth team of lawyers to fight Microsoft Corporation. When it was time to end the dispute, he was Sun's face at the settlement table.
By Victoria Slind-Flor
Alliance Engineering
Genentech hasn't made a big splash with M&A. But beneath the surface of new drugs is a complex network of stakes, licenses, and R&D contracts.
By Andrew Morse
Ethereal Asset
In the nineties, IP practitioners became alpha lawyers by unlocking
IP portfolio values. Now, can they become true entrepreneurs in the "concept economy"?
By Mark Voorhees
Editor's Note/June 2004
Go Fish
How Fish & Richardson has climbed to the top of our annual list of the most active IP practices.
By Mark Voorhees
Property Line
Multinational companies are pushing Poland to crack down on IP enforcement.
By Eriq Gardner
The Trouble With TiVo
Content owners are crying copyright infringement, and cable companies are talking customers.
By Alan Cohen
Editor's Note/May 2004
Trying To Make Nice
Microsoft launches a kinder, gentler IP policy. Plus: A look at HP's new licensing initiative.
Standing in the Shadows
In licensing, everyone wants to be like Big Blue.
By Emily Friedlander
Licensing's In and the Lawyer's Out
In licensing, everyone wants to be like Big Blue.
By Alan Cohen
The Needle's Edge
HP puts a business manager in charge of its new licensing program.
By Lisa Shuchman
Redmond Turns Blue
HP puts a business manager in charge of its new licensing program.
By Lisa Shuchman
Editor's Note/April 2004
Breaking the (Bar) Code
The fabled Lemelson patents won't scan anymore. How Jesse Jenner shut down the billion-dollar licensing fee machine.
By Susan Hansen
Editor's Note/March 2004
Global a Go-Go
Patent battles are no longer just domestic disputes.
By Susan Hansen
Open or Closed?
At the heart of the litigation between SCO and IBM is the future of the open-source movement
By Krysten Crawford
Mr. Damages
Jim Gould has won awards of more than $70 million three times. Each case is different, but all demonstrate nerve and verve.
By Alan Cohen
Few and Far Between
Women are having a hard time breaking into leading roles in patent litigation.
By Brenda Sanburg
Global Guardians
Which firms represent the world's largest companies? Hint: Size doesn't always matter.
By Joan Oleck
Changing Its Tune
If the music industry wants to survive online piracy, in-house lawyers must adapt.
By Daphne Eviatar
Patent Hall of Fame
In our first salute to patent prosecutors,
we found ten lawyers who do it all.
Taking the Power Back
Some universities ban together to fight for control of their agricultural patents.
By Alexandra Dell
Who Protects IP America, 2003
The Leviathans don't yet rule the land. Our fourth annual report on the firms that represent the Fortune 250.
By Rosemarie Clancy and Brett Rauber
Who Protects IP America, The Chart
Most Mentions in the Survey
Cellular Divide
A small Australian company is trying to do an end run around the University of Wisconsin's stem cell patents. BresaGen Ltd. announced plans to buy rights to a set of embryonic cell patents covering research conducted at Vanderbilt University. The proposed acquisition may be a "Hail Mary strategy," but the deal may rekindle the old arguments, especially the clash between IP protection and fundamental scientific research.
By Mark Vorhees
The Gene Patent Debate
The debate over gene patents is often a reflection of where one sits. Most biotechnology companies and lawyers accept patents as a given, while theresearch community holds a more skeptical view of the value of mini-monopolies over the stuff of life. In-house attorneys at Affymetrix Inc. and Incyte Genomics weigh in on the DNA debate.
Why We Hate Gene Patents
The general counsel of Affymetrix makes the case for keeping the human genome in the public sphere.
By Barbara A. Caulfield
Rebuttal: Why We Need Gene Patents
Two in-house lawyers from Incyte Genomics argue that strong patent protection for genes is critical for innovation.
By Lee Bendekgey and Diana Hamlet Cox
Law of the Jungle
The end came quickly for Lyon & Lyon, the Los Angeles IP boutique that once epitomized the practice of patent law. Over the past decade, big general practice firms began to steal the litigation work that had brought in much of Lyon's revenue.
By Jennifer Thelen
Where Are the Lyons Now?
The job market might be tough these days, but former Lyon & Lyon lawyers have found a soft landing. Here's a look at where they are now.
Trademark Counsel for the Global 50
IP Worldwide asked the world's 50 largest corporations to name the firms they use for trademark prosecution and litigation. Although a large firm, Houston's Baker Botts, came out on top, smaller specialty firms are winning plenty of work from these blue-chip companies.
Rising Stars
IP Worldwide set the performance bar high when selecting the top young intellectual property trial lawyers in the country.
The British Are Cloning
When it comes to stem cell research, U.S. companies may soon be facing a fundamental question: Should they invest time and money in embryonic stem cell and cloning research here, where public funding is limited and the possibility of criminal charges looms?
By Penny Gilbert and Robert Fitt
10 Patents That Changed the World
For this year's list of most valuable patents, the editors of IP Worldwide looked for patents that shook up society -- for better or worse.
By Alan Cohen
