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I spent time at the LES World IP Day celebration on April 26. It had lots of interesting discussions. Toward the end, when I was about to leave – it had gone a bit longer than scheduled – and just as I was getting up from my table, I had to pause. I love when people net out a truth behind a way we do things that we may not think about. … Read More
Ok, I get it that lobbying can be an important part of an overall strategy and so hats off to those who have created some fog around a seemingly broken patent system. However, things have gone just a little too far now – and unfortunately all of the hyperbole is focused on the United States. To summarize Kenneth Lustig’s recent Forbes article on the topic: (and thanks to David Kline for sending… Read More
This is a metaphorical question of course. It represents another universal issue in strategy. Renowned generals throughout history have shown a propensity to win great battles, but fail to win their wars. Sports teams make big plays, run up the stats, but don’t win their important games. Talented chess players give masters a run for their money, but just can’t attain mate. It happens in IP also to apparently talented IP professionals. … Read More
On 25th April 2011, the China Supreme Court and 27 ministries of China Central Government jointly released their 2011 Action Plan on Intellectual Property. The plan indicates that the Chinese government has made a firm decision to take action concerning intellectual property protection. My analysis of certain aspects of the plan follows. Amendment to Copyright Law The Action Plan indicates an intention to amend the Copyright Law of PRC. In the beginning… Read More
In March, 50 well-known Chinese writers made an announcement against Baidu.com which provides a platform named Baidu Online Library for users to upload all kinds of literature including novels, business documents, professional memos and presentation slides. Uploading occurs without approval or authorization from the writers. The uploaded material may be read or downloaded by anyone without any fee. Nearly all famous writers can find their works in this online library, but they… Read More
Just how far can you protect your IP once you’ve licensed it out? Here’s a shining example. What are your thoughts? On January 24th, 2011, Huawei Technologies, Co., Ltd. (“Huawei”), a leader in providing next generation telecommunications network solutions for operators around the world, asked a U.S. District Court to prevent Motorola from illegally transferring Huawei’s intellectual property (IP) to Nokia Siemens Networks (“NSN”). Huawei took this action as NSN seeks to… Read More
What is an ideal strategy and would you know one if it bit you? Why bother with it anyway? The ideal strategy is a strategy that provides 100% of the desired benefit and 0% drawback. It is a theoretical target given the mathematical reality that 1/0 (where whole benefit = 1, and no drawback = 0) does not exist – all strategies have drawbacks. A key question to ask, when planning IP… Read More
‘Think globally, act locally’ – but do you really mean it? This has been the slogan of many multinationals during the years but still many fail in this respect. The new wave of expansions into China, India and Indonesia give probably the most vivid examples of the need to think locally: understand the culture, find key partners, understand the legal constraints and develop IP and business strategies that work within the given… Read More
Focus on the effect you wish your IP to have, not on the IP itself. On many occasions during IP strategy training courses I have given, I have suggested that patent strategists learn how to play the Chinese game of Go. Go is a well-known game of strategy in the East, just as Chess is in the West. The mindset needed to win the game of Go is similar to the mindset… Read More
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