Archive for October, 2004
MindManager update released
Link: Mindjet recently announced its release of MindManager X5Pro v. 5.2. MindManager is a wonderful tool for brainstorming (see this prior PTP post). But, it goes farther than that. The program is one of those rare tools you enjoy so much that you seek new uses for it. I have [...]
Sponsors of two late term bills have vastly different views of the effects of the patent system
During the weeks leading up to the departure of the 108th Congress from Washington, D.C., two bills were introduced that relate to the patent system and its effects on the prices charged for products. Seemingly unrelated on their respective faces, the bills look at the patent system in radically different ways.
H.R. 5036, introduced by [...]
Patent Legislation — Focus turns to India
India’s legislature has a looming deadline. The country is a signatory to the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPs). Under the Agreement, India must amend its Patents Act by January 1, 2005 to make the Indian patent system TRIPs compliant.
India has taken the full benefit of the transition period provided [...]
Mark Cuban, the Patent Terrorists, and derivation
Link: Mark Cuban posted this interesting piece in his blog, blog maverick, yesterday. In it, Cuban outlines three ideas, all related to television programming, that “…are businesses I would be looking at starting, and software I would look at writing if I were so inclined.”
But, Cuban isn’t so inclined. Instead, he has [...]
Patent .pdf’s by e-mail — PatentGopher.com
Link: I noticed this patent .pdf service the other day. Order a patent, and get a .pdf as an e-mail attachment. Patents of 10 pages or less are delivered for just US$1. Additional pages cost ten cents each.
As an alternative, I have installed the pat2pdf script on my Windows XP laptop, and [...]
USPTO Independent Inventor Online session TODAY
The USPTO is holding its next Independent Inventor Online session TODAY at 2:00 PM EST. The USPTO offers these sessions regularly as a question-and-answer resource for independent inventors.
Today’s session will follow a new format in which USPTO experts will take detailed questions for a half hour and provide answers later in a posting on [...]
Start reading intellectual property blogs today
Robert J. Ambrogi, author of The Essential Guide to the Best (and Worst) Legal Sites on the Web, recently compiled a listing of intellectual property blogs (registration required) in Law Technology News.
The listing is great for anyone interested in getting started with intellectual property blogs. To make it even easier to get started, I [...]
USPTO CIO Departing
Link: The Chief Information Officer at the United States Patent and Trademark Office is leaving after three years on the job. Douglas Bourgeois is leaving the USPTO to take a position in the Department of the Interior’s National Business Center.
The USPTO has made huge strides in information technology under Bourgeois’ watch, particularly in [...]
108th Congress exits, leaving several intellectual property bills stalled on the hill
After working through the weekend and on the Columbus day holiday, the members of the 108th Congress left Washington to break for the upcoming elections. Several bills relating to intellectual property have been left on the table and now have little chance for passage by this Congress. The members are expected back following [...]
Legislative efforts to enhance international enforcement of US intellectual property interests
S.2809, the appropriations bill for the Departments of Commerce, Justice and State, includes several provisions relating to domestic efforts to enforce US intellectual property interests abroad.
The bill includes an appropriation of $20M for the National Intellectual Property Law Enforcement Coordination Council (NIPLECC), an interagency body charged with coordinating domestic and international intellectual property law enforcement. [...]
