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• Standards Wars: Rights, Responsibilities, and Strategies ( June 2003 )
  Steven J. Henry, Edward J. Russavage and Liza  Vertinsky of Wolf, Greenfield & Sacks, P.C.

  Participation in standard-setting organizations (SSOs) raises issues with grave implications for many companies. SSOs promote interoperability in technology systems through the adoption of technical standards. Conflicting demands for standardization, free dispersion of information, and the need to protect proprietary technologies, have left technology companies caught in the middle of industry standard "wars."

• Effective Patent Asset Management ( June 2003 )
  Edward J. Kelly of Ropes & Gray LLP

  Edward J. Kelly, a partner at Ropes & Gray, led an informative discussion focusing on both patent asset management and the relationship between inside and outside counsel. Together with Marc Foodman, Chief Patent Counsel at Sun Microsystems, Inc., they focused the lively discussion on the following topics: IP Department infrastructure, patent asset management, settlement strategies and coordinating litigation.

• Can a Patent be Pending for Too Long? ( January 2003 )
  M Henry. Heines of Townsend and Townsend and Crew LLP

  As the economic power of patents continues to grow, time-honored beliefs in the virtues of the patent system and the rights of patent holders have come under increasing scrutiny, and accusations of abuses of the patent system are increasingly prevalent. The latest example appears in a recent decision by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the nation's leading patent court.

• Destroying Patent Rights by Making an "Offer for Sale" ( January 2003 )
  M Henry. Heines of Townsend and Townsend and Crew LLP

  Patent infringement lawsuits are generally brought against parties that manufacture, use or sell, the patented invention without the patent owner's permission. Patent infringement can also occur when someone other has simply offered the invention for sale without the patent owner's permission. Sometimes in fact it takes very little to show that an offer has been made.

• Understanding "Prior Art" ( January 2003 )
  M Henry. Heines of Townsend and Townsend and Crew LLP

  "Prior art" is the mass of pre-existing knowledge that an invention must distinguish over to qualify for a patent. Distinguishing over "prior art" often leads to creative ways to express or define an invention, but the threshold question is: What actually constitutes prior art?

• Use Care in Drafting Provisional Applications ( January 2003 )
  M Henry. Heines of Townsend and Townsend and Crew LLP

  Many inventors file provisional applications as a first stage in applying for a patent. Provisional applications can be filed without claims, so the inventor does not have to decide which features will distinguish the invention over the "prior art," and since provisionals are not examined, they can be filed without the usual formatting of a conventional patent application.

• The Brothers Chudnovsky ( November 2002 )
  Joseph  Diamante of Pennie & Edmonds LLP

  By all accounts, David and Gregory Chudnovsky are brilliant number theorists. Their quest to calculate pi to the greatest number of decimal places was warmly chronicled in a long <i>New Yorker</i> profile in 1992 titled "The Mountains of Pi." Three years later, <i>New York Magazine</i> ranked the Chudnovskys among the 100 smartest New Yorkers. And two years after that, <i>Esquire</i> included the brothers (as a unit) in a grouping of "The 100 Best People in the World." The brothers have all sorts of inventions worthy of both patent protection and commercialization. There is only one problem. They are not fans of the patent system and are reluctant capitalists.

• Make Money By Exposing Secrets: Learn How the Simple Act of Filing a Patent Application Can Make or Break Your Business ( September 2002 )
  Justin D. Swindells of Jenkens & Gilchrist

  A recent law allows businesses to create more value simply by filing a patent application. The 18-month rule deprives patent applications of their secrecy 18 months after they are filed, but in exchange, the patent applicant can recover damages from an infringer starting from the date of publication. The bargain is somewhat more complex, but you can improve your bottom line by maximizing the benefits of the 18-month rule and avoiding its pitfalls.

• Business Method Patents and Pre-Grant Publication--The Increasing Complexity of Patent Strategies ( December 2000 )
  Alan J. Ross of Arter & Hadden LLP

  Looks at changing regulations in business methods patents and pre-grant publication.