Rethink(IP): March 2006 Archives

Rethink(IP) friend needs a job!

Posted by Stephen M. Nipper at March 31, 2006 01:03 PM

We need a BIG favor from our readers.

We've got a close friend who has Fortune 50 IP management experience (including managing the business side of litigation, generating IP, building IT infrastructure inside legal departments, raising the patent ranking (number of issued patents) of said big company by 15 places, etc.) that is looking for a job. This guy is educated in a very cross-disciplinary set of technical backgrounds. He is not a JD.

Does anyone have ideas on who needs a creative mover and shaker to get a corporation’s IP program going?

Anyone know of open IP manager positions?

Reply to Steve (snipper+job@gmail.com) if you do and he'll pass the information on.

Thanks in advance!

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Rethink(IP): RSS Mojo

Posted by Stephen M. Nipper at March 28, 2006 12:40 AM

The Rethinkers have more blogs than you could shake a stick at. Seriously...

One of them is called the "RSS Mojo" blog. What is it?

RSS Mojo currently has two components: (1) US Patent and Trademark Office News and (2) IP Lawsuit Filing Updates.

1. US Patent and Trademark Office News

Unlike the Copyright Office, the Patent and Trademark Office doesn't yet have RSS feeds of their News & Notice's page. We've done it for you. You can subscribe via RSS or via e-mail.

2. Lawsuit Filings

We also provide regular updates of recently filed patent, trademark and copyright lawsuits. They are currently provided for free, but will move to a weekly (subscription only) and monthly (free) model in the next few months. You can subscribe via RSS or E-mail.

Interested? Everything you need to know is right here.

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Shadow Blawg Review

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at March 26, 2006 06:38 PM

Donald_bad_boy Well .... we were …bad …. bad … boys a couple of weeks ago.

It seems that our little experiment to shake up Blawg Review was met with mixed results at best. While we received a large number of "thank yous" and well wishes — at least one blogger called us lazy (although it is hard to figure out how to lazily jump the shark – trust us, we probably spent more time discussing whether we should do it than most people spend actually putting the review together).

Another blogger chastised us for not standing by our original decision – i.e. we posted the remainders at Blawgr. We decided to post the rest of the entrants over at Blawgr in order to start a discussion – an idea which appears to have fallen short. Apparently, law bloggers don’t like to discuss things in groups.

We apologize - we are truly sorry for any upset our rethinking caused. We thought it might be useful to scale back Blawg Review a little bit and make it more pertinent.... but we know how much y'all like your links, so we are going to pay some pennance and share some linking goodness with y'all this week.

Now, we haven't cleared this with "Ed" - so, we await your love, scorn or indifference alone and without the armor of Ed's cloak. So... without further ado, we give you all the law related links that we could find in the blawgosphere this week:

Continue reading "Shadow Blawg Review" »

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USPTO.gov suggestion: make last screen of TEAS print right

Posted by Stephen M. Nipper at March 22, 2006 11:52 AM

One thing that is annoying (about using TEAS) is when you file a Response or other document, the "Success!" confirmation page you receive never wants to print right. Whether I print it portrait or landscape or to PDF...it doesn't matter. I still end up with text that falls off the screen. See the right edge of the below pic for an example of what I am talking about:

Any idea why it does this? Is it just me?

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The picture says it all.

Posted by Stephen M. Nipper at March 17, 2006 01:14 AM

Capture2-1-2006-10.29.26 AM.jpg

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"Hate uspto.gov" category now "uspto.gov feedback"

Well...I did it. After much deliberation, we've changed the "Hate uspto.gov" category to read "uspto.gov feedback." These are things we want the USPTO to do...improvements we wish they'd make. Our previous feedback posts can be found here.

As grandma would say..."you catch more flies with honey than vinegar." (of course, I always thought flies ate BS...but we'll try grandma's way for a while)

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Rollyo + IP Sites + Nuevos = Great IP Searching

Posted by Stephen M. Nipper at March 15, 2006 08:11 PM

Back a few months ago everyone was abuzz with "Rollyo." Rollyo is a website where you can enter your favorite websites into a personalized search engine (ROLLYourOwn search engine or "searchroll"). Neat concept, but after some tinkering creating a "Rethink(IP)" Rollyo page containing all of the Rethinker's favorite IP sites and information...we never created a post for it. Oops. So, here it is: Rethink(IP)'s Rollyo page. Here's an example search: "Patent Troll."

The original sources were thrown together based on my bookmarks/OPML file and at that time I was limited to my top X sites. That may have changed, so Matt, Doug and I will go back and update the sources to make sure they are what we think are the best resources.

Today, I (being a part time Mac user) saw mention of a new (to me) Mac program called Nuevos. Nuevos is a search bar (much like you'd see in FireFox for searching Google/Amazon/eBay/etc.) that lets you search a variety of websites from one box.

Then it dawned on me, what if I added Rethink(IP)'s Rollyo page to Nuevos? So...I did. Now, I can easily search IP sites for a phrase (such as "patent reform") and know I won't be buried in splogs or paid avertisements. Only the sites Rethink(IP) picked will be in the results. Very cool.

Here's the code if you are a Mac user and want to create a Rethink(IP) Rollyo search link for Nuevos:

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Things we hate about the USPTO - Annoying press release practices

Quick – when does the new USPTO electronic filing system go live? Is it this Friday, March 17th (as originally reported by the Office in the online training session for the new private PAIR), Thursday (as suggested by yesterday’s press release), or next Monday (the day of the online training for the new system)?

The Office has sent several mixed messages, and now I am left wondering when I can use the new system. Guess what? I have an application due on Friday. Can I file it electronically? Who knows….

Not a great way to introduce revolutionary technology to the bar…

Arrrggghhhh.

This has caused me to reflect on several annoying practices of the Office when it comes to press releases…inconsistency being only one of them.

For example…today’s announcement regarding the Office’s call for suggestions on the forthcoming strategic plan for 2007–2012. The announcement appears on the front page of the web site, but not on the main news page. The front page always changes, and this content will eventually be replaced by different, newer content. So, we can’t link directly to it. Problem.

Arrrggghhhh.

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Blawg Review #48

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at March 13, 2006 09:16 AM

BE047625 Blawg Review readers may be surprised to learn that hosts of the Review are actually required to play by a few rules. There's the silly rule about the title of the actual post (no creativity allowed!), and then there's this:

"The host shall be at liberty to present the submission, or not, or make another presentation of the post as seems appropriate to the host for that Blawg Review, with unfettered discretion."

We're taking that rule to heart as we host this 48th Edition of Blawg Review. "Unfettered discretion" - definitely words we like.

In a nutshell - we're sick of carnivals.

Not all carnivals, mind you - just the long drawn out boring ones that really don't offer anything of value. We think that several popular carnivals, including Blawg Review, have become bloated, link-whore-optimized versions of the original vision for what a carnival should be - an edited review of relevant blog posts presented in a manner that contributes to thought-provoking conversation.

Does anyone actually click through all 100 links found in a typical carnival post? Of course you don't. If you are anything like us, you click through the first couple of links and then wander off to get more coffee, wax the car or perhaps even get some work done. Nahh... waxing the car is way more important. Who wants to read a bloated set of postings that really don't rise to being the cream of the crop... not us, and we think none of you want to either.

Remember the carnival experience of your youth? Your parents only took you to the travelling extravaganza when IStock_000000127707Small you were good. If you went to the carnival every week as a kid... you were a carnie. And if you were a carnie, I assure you that the carnival would lose some of it "specialness" - it wouldn't be about the lions, tigers and bears - nope, it would be about the whining children, the drunken sailors and the bearded lady who won't quit grabbing your behind.

So - we have decided a little Blawg Review coup is in order -- we are rebelling -- we are rethinking the format of the Blawg Review. Instead of regurgitating a long string of links and quotes, we each picked one post that resonated - and it is this one post each that you will find here under the banner of Blawg Review. Yes, we know this rethinking (and retinkering) raises the possibility that we'll never again be able to post to Blawg Review or even host it, but in the interest of all who follow the Review, it is a chance we're willing to take.

If you really want to read all the other items submitted - head on over to Blawgr, you'll find the links over there (along with a lot of other interesting discussions).

With that introduction, we'll get on with the show...so here it is...Blawg Review, Rethink(IP) style...

Doug's Favorite Post:

Bruce MacEwen's blog, "Adam Smith, Esq.", should be the first thing every lawyer reads each morning! Now, how is that for an opening statement - Bruce is going to have a hard time living up to that introduction, but I have no doubt that he will be able.

While Bruce does have a propensity to dwell on the inner workings of the monster firms out there, I am consistently able to pull pieces of useful information out of his posts that benefit my medium sized boutique firm. Whether it is dealing with associates, hiring pressures or client service - Bruce never fails to provide relevant useful information that is brimming with insight.

I am not certain whether Bruce intends for his posts to be so relevant to our segment of the legal services industry, but I have a sneaking suspicion that he keeps us small fish in mind when hobnobbing with the legal illuminatti of the AmLaw 100.

This past week Bruce tackles the question of firm marketing efforts and comes to the conclusion that many of the efforts result in absolutely no return on investment.

"What Differentiates Our Firm Is..." [Nothing] To badly paraphrase Bruce, does your marketing drive new sales or is it merely a “shiny mess of nothingness” — i.e. do your firm’s marketing activities sound like the following:

All the activities the reader cites contribute to "name recognition" for a law firm, but the actual "sale" (read: engagements to handle a piece of litigation, a corporate transaction, a tax problem, etc.) only occurs when the client has the precise need, i.e., is at the point of pain. No one in the history of the world ever woke up and said, "What I need today is to buy myself a really good contract...."

Keep on keeping on Bruce! I learn something new in every post!

Steve's Favorite Post:

Josh Cohen at the Multiple Mentality blog on "Obeying the law".

I've actually never see the "Multiple Mentality" blog before this weekend. I'm not even sure it is a law blog...but of the posts I read (and I read every single one of them), other than the two snagged by Matt/Doug, this one made me go Hmm.... Not that there aren't some great posts in the other pile (found over at Blawgr), but this one struck me as very interesting.

I won't ruin the post for you, but it involves this video:

We don't often see the youth of America questioning the law in a constructive way. Rather than just refusing to follow it, they sought to prove its lunacy. Bravo! Bravo!

Matt's Favorite Post:

My criteria in reviewing posts this week was simple: Did it make me think? Truth be told...not many of the submissions did. I should have known, though, that the submission from Blog Diva Denise Howell would fit the bill.

Denise revisited the familiar topic of the dangers, from an employers point-of-view, associated with employee blogging. Sure there's the possibility of leaking confidential information and a host of other potential ills, but Denise takes a fresh angle on the problem, and goes out on a limb in the process. Of all the various communication tools available to employees, Denise asserts that "blogging may actually be the least risky and most innocuous from a corporate risk management standpoint."

And she's got a convincing argument too. Read it in all it's glory in this post at the Between Lawyers blog.

Thanks, Denise, for stepping out on the limb and making me think.

So that is it folks! Once again, if you want all the other links — head on over to Blawgr (archived link to the post). Next weeks Blawg Review will be hosted by Jim Calloway over at the Law Practice Tips Blog. It’s good to see another Okie taking the reins of Blawg Review next week — you never know, Jim might rethink the whole carnival format further – Okies have a way of doing that every now and then.

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Rethink(IP) Aloud Podcast #5 - Next Generation Electronic Filing of Patent Applications – a conversation with Carl Oppedahl

Posted by J Matthew Buchanan at March 7, 2006 11:43 AM

We're pleased to announce the availability of our latest Rethink(IP) Aloud Podcast - Next Generation Electronic Filing of Patent Applications – a conversation with Carl Oppedahl.

You can listen to the podcast by streaming and/or downloading it here. IStock_000000359708Small The RSS feed for the Rethink(IP) Aloud Podcast series is available here.

In this podcast, we talk with Carl Oppedahl of Oppedahl & Olson LLP about the forthcoming EFS-Web system for electronically filing patent applications in the United States.

EFS-Web promises to be a simple, flexible, and easy-to-implement e-filing system that, we think, represents a practice-changing technology. It's out with the old system that Carl calls "an abomination" and in with a new, easy-to-use e-filing solution that he expects to lead to higher e-filing rates for patent applications.

Carl is a recognized leader in Patent and Trademark Office Technology. He has maintained the very informative electronic filing listserv for several years and recently served as a key participant in the beta testing of EFS-Web. Carl has kicked the tires on the new system and, to date, has the most experience of anyone in putting the new system to work in private practice.

We hope you listen to this very informative conversation.

The shownotes are below:

The New System - EFS-Web

USPTO FAQ: http://www.uspto.gov/ebc/efs_faq.htm

USPTO Help: http://www.uspto.gov/ebc/efs_help.html

Register in advance of March 17, 2006: http://www.uspto.gov/ebc/portal/infocustomernumber.htm
(for those who don’t have a customer number and/or a digital certificate)

Carl’s EFS-Web resources: http://www.oppedahl.com/efsweb/

Patently-O blog post on the beta testing of EFS-Web: http://patentlaw.typepad.com/patent/2005/04/uspto_moves_tow.html

The Old System - Good Riddance!

Promote the Progress blog on the old system – Why I stopped using the old system:
http://promotetheprogress.com/archives/2005/02/i_have_stopped.html

The Tips - Get ready for St. Patrick's Day

Carl’s very helpful site: http://www.oppedahl.com/efsweb/

USPTO EFS-Web Tools Page: http://www.uspto.gov/ebc/portal/tools.htm

USPTO tutorial on PDF creadtion for EFS-Web: http://www.uspto.gov/ebc/portal/efs/tutorials_pdf.htm

USPTO Job Options for PDF: http://www.uspto.gov/ebc/portal/efs/uspto.joboptions

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Rethinking Design and Fab(rication) Law

Posted by Stephen M. Nipper at March 6, 2006 07:05 PM

How many blogs do you need to have before someone does an intervention?

Rethink(IP) is proud to announce our latest collaborative blog, no not that one, but the "Shape Blog."

The Shape Blog is a collaborative effort between at least six IP bloggers: the TTABlog, the Trademark Blog, and Rethink(IP).

Rethink(IP) will be heading up the patent (design and utility) wing of a discussion of the intersection of 3D shapes and the law.

This topic is actually very important. As consumers are able to economically fabricate more and more items at home, IP owners that were previously immune to how consumer technology impacts their bottom line are going to have to pay attention. Think about it. If one could merely download a torrent of a part schematic from the Internet and "print" it on their personal fabrication machine (laser cutter, CNC, etc), why would they ever go buy replacement parts (or the original device in general)? Hmm...much gnashing of IP owner teeth ahead.

Here's the RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ShapeBlog

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A Lay Person's Guide to LES

Posted by Bill Meade at March 4, 2006 05:30 PM

By Bill Meade of http://www.basicip.com

LES stands for the "Licensing Executive Society" and this post is a review of the LES winter meeting that took place February 22, 23, and 24, 2006 in Pasadena California. This post is an attempt to give RethinkIP readers a sense of what the conference and LES society is like.

Who went?

Approximately 320 people attended the conference and they represent a mix of licensing-related backgrounds including patent litigators, house counsel, attorneys with MBAs working as licensing executives (i.e., Outside their company’s legal department!), geniuses at large (one person had an MD from Russia, a PhD from Israel, and an MBA from the US), and many technical people (Ph.D. biochemistry or physics for example) acting as IP commercialization consultants, and expert witnesses. Add to this mix a dash of retired judge, a genial Cornell PhD in materials science, JDs with Ph.Ds, the Knobe Martin litigator alumni association, and you begin to get a feel for the human chemistry of an LES meeting.

Continue reading "A Lay Person's Guide to LES" »

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