Small businesses often worry about protecting their intellectual property. Yet, they also hold misconceptions about how to strategically manage their intellectual property. The New York Times recently cited five common misconceptions that small businesses often make concerning their intellectual property. To remain competitive, small business owners need to make smart investments in their intellectual property...
When Amazon remotely removed George Orwell's "1984" from Kindle devices, copyright law and big brother clashed in the world of eBooks. But the copyright versus big brother debate is missing an important point. Amazon's control over how eBooks are sold on Kindle is a business strategy first and foremost. Enforcing Copyright or Big Brother? Amazon...
How long should biologics enjoy protection from competition? That hotly debated question in Congress has produced a wide range of opinions, from 5, 7 to 12 years. While some Congresspeople favor a 5 year period, Howard Dean, the National Venture Capital Association, and Senator Edward Kennedy all support 12 or more years of data exclusivity...
Google AdWords faces another legal challenge over AdWords. Emboldened by a recent Second Circuit opinion, Rescuecom Corp. v. Google, Inc., Rosetta Stone filed a suit last Friday against Google for trademark infringement. Rosetta Stone accuses Google of allowing other companies to "free ride" on its brand name and of misleading and confusing consumers into clicking...
In The Prior Art blog, Joe Mullin wrote yesterday about GOOD Magazine's profile of Erich Spangenberg, a highly successful "patent troll." Mullin's main beef with the article is GOOD's comparison of Spangenberg, and patent trolls more generally, to Robin Hood. Mullin argues that in the case of patents, there is no poor person to whom...
Cupertino, your iPhone has a trademark problem in China. While Apple is talking to China Unicom about selling the iPhone in China beginning in 2010, MacWorld reports that Hanwang Technology owns the trademark “i-phone” for mobile phones in China. As a result, Apple will run into problems selling the iPhone in China without reaching an...
The patent troll loses one. Honeywell's intellectual property licensing unit, Honeywell Intellectual Property International (HIPI), recently lost a patent infringement suit that it brought against Novatek, a Taiwanese LCD panel manufacturer. What's notable is that Honeywell sued seven other defendants for infringing the same patent, and all of those defendants settled. Novatek refused to pay...
Centocor Ortho Biotech, a business unit of Johnson & Johnson, today won a $1.67 billion award for Abbott Labs' infringement of its patent on Remicade. Centocor's Remicade and Abbott's Humira are competitors in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Humira is Abbott's best-selling pharmaceutical. Abbott's success has relied on Humira. Humira has gained FDA approvals for...
Makers of remote storage DVR systems have won a major legal battle against movie studios and TV networks. This morning the Supreme Court declined to hear the case of Cable News Networks v. CSC Holdings Inc. The remote storage DVR allows viewers to store shows for later viewing without having to use a box. Instead,...