Intellectual Property Law

According to a recent study of senior in-house counsel in 311 American corporations and another 111 around the world, intellectual property issues are among their top legal worries. IP and patent issues were among the main five concerns of 24% of the counsel responding to the survey, almost double the 13% reported last year. This was true in many sectors ? not only in technology industries, where 61% of corporate counsel put IP issues among their three most important litigation problems, but also in pharmaceuticals (50%), retail/wholesale (48%), and education and non-profits (33%).

The study showed that corporate legal departments often turned to outside counsel to deal with these problems. For example, IP issues were among those corporations most often chose to have handled by ?virtual law firms,? where several national or regional firms coordinate complex litigation among them. In a ?virtual law firm,? one firm may handle e-discovery while another has responsibility for trial work, developing experts, or managing regulatory issues. The counsel responding to the survey reported using this strategy in 27% of their IP and patent cases. Among all sectors, 88% of those who have tried this strategy say they have often, or at least sometimes, found it superior to using a single firm. Seven percent of the companies contacted in the survey farmed out IP work to outside firms on a contingency basis. In some sectors, such as manufacturing, the figure went as high as 21%.

Is this kind of trend here to stay? Follow the Blawg to find out.

Today's Guest Blogger: David Phillips