Protecting your company’s intellectual property (IP) is a vital business practice. IP protection ensures that the unique elements of your products and processes are protected and solidifies your standing in the industry. When it comes to patentable technology, patent claims are your first line of defense as they put the world on notice to the […]
Intellectual Property
Defending Against Competitive Threats: How Reverse Engineering Services Saved this Software Business
In 1992, there was a high-profile U.S. software copyright case involving Nintendo’s NES video game console and cartridges. Reverse engineering services played a big part in the legal proceedings. The backstory goes like this … Nintendo developed a security system for their NES, so that only video games they developed would operate on the NES. […]
AI & IP: Who Profits from Productivity Increases?
Introduction Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a hot topic, and its potential to boost productivity has captured the attention of economists, computer scientists, and managers. A groundbreaking study conducted by economists from Stanford and MIT sheds light on the impact of generative AI (GAI) on worker productivity.1 In this article, I explore the study’s primary […]
Patents as Debt Collateral: Perfecting Security Interests
There will be many lessons to learn and conclusions to be made over the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) fallout, but what we know is that SVB rapidly grew during the pandemic. In 2021 SVB’s deposits grew from $62 billion to $124 billion, in part due to the fact that SVB offered higher rates on deposits […]
License Comparability Guiding Principles: Two-Pronged Approach for Technical and Economic Comparability
Introduction As part of a damages analysis, when assessing whether a license agreement is comparable for the purposes of a hypothetical negotiation for a reasonable royalty, economic and technical comparability is important to consider. In this post, we posit certain high level guiding principles, focusing on a two pronged approach of technical and economic comparability. […]
Factors Influencing the Legal Quality of Patents
As I mentioned in a previous blog post, different aspects of patent quality are affected by different actors in the patent system. Improving patent quality requires careful examination of the various policy levers available to different actors. For instance, the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is bound by the statutes set forth by Congress. […]
Recent Rulings Suggest Damages Experts Have Discretion in Considering License Agreements Post-Dating a Hypothetical Negotiation
On January 5, 2023, in the matter of Willis Electric Co., Ltd. v. Polygroup Limited, et al., Judge Wilhelmina M. Wright of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota denied a motion to exclude expert testimony that relied on a license agreement post-dating the hypothetical negotiation.1 In this matter, Plaintiff Willis Electric […]
The Roles of Competition and Geopolitics in Cybersecurity and Cyber-Crime
Recently, the Ocean Tomo Cybersecurity Report was front and center in an interview on the Peggy Smedley Show. During the podcast interview, we were able to dissect a variety of important topics related to industry trends, dynamic threats, capital markets, and intellectual property (IP) in the cybersecurity industry. More specifically, our discussion covered: Paradigm shifts […]