Patent Law

The Benefits of Interest-Based Negotiation in IP Disputes

Posted on October 27, 2009
I've been thinking jurisprudential thoughts for the last couple of weeks because I'm finishing the second draft of the ABC's of Conflict Resolution and because I made the terrible error of trying to cover the history of dispute resolution in Blawg Review # 234 (as Ed...

Dispute Resolution and Social Media Online Event Announcement

Posted on October 25, 2009
ODR WEEK 2009 Web 2.0: Going from OH? To KNOW! Friday October 30th 2:30pm - 3:30pm est. (it will be archived too!) Spots limited, see below. Join Jeff Thompson (www.enjoymediation.com & Centre For Peace & Social Justice) and an all-star lineup of Mediate...

Using the Power of Social Media to Win Copyright Fight

Posted on October 23, 2009
The following from Carolyn Elefant at My Shingle: [T]his recent article from NPR . . .  reports on Rock Art, a local Vermont brewery that successfully fended off a copyright challenge by the national company that makes Monster energy drink...

We Welcome IP Watchtower to the IP Blogosphere!

Posted on October 20, 2009
That person ringing your virtual doorbell is not -- I repeat not -- someone trying to sell you magazine subscriptions or somebody's else's religion.  No!  That's the incredibly bright, accomplished and talented Erica Bristol delivering up-to-the-minute news and analysis on the most important intellectual property issues of the day...

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Negotiating Resolution with Hi-Lo Agreements

Posted on September 22, 2009
 Below, ADR Services colleague Ralph Williams' September 2009 ADR Tip. High - Low Agreements, also known as "Mini - Maxi" agreements are used to limit or bracket arbitration awards and jury verdicts. They can be made at any time before the award/verdict is rendered...

Negotiating Women at ForbesWoman

Posted on September 21, 2009
Yes, that's my article right below Michelle Obama's.  Sometimes you've just GOT to brag!

If You Haven't Given Legal Blogging a Second Thought, Think Again!

Posted on September 18, 2009
If this tremendous article on legal blogging (and in particular ADR blogging) from this summer's ABA Dispute Resolution Magazine Only Connect the Impact of Blogging on the Field of ADR  by Diane Levin doesn't make you want to immediately run to blogger...

Challenges to Mediation and Mediated Settlement Agreements in the Courts with a Link to ADR Malpractice Series

Posted on September 15, 2009
Pertinent to my new series on avoiding ADR malpractice, there's a great (but now dated) law review article entitled "Disputing Irony: a Systematic Look at Litigation Concerning Mediation" (.pdf) ( Harv. Negot. L. Rev, 2006) (summary here) that is a "must read" for anyone who settles many of their lawsuits in mediated negotiation sessions...

IP Strategy from the UK: Good Advice Wherever Your IP is Located

Posted on September 15, 2009

Gone Fishin' See You in September!

Posted on August 21, 2009

Anatomy of a Software Licensing Mediation

Posted on August 13, 2009
Here's a great post on the mediation of a software licensing dispute from Disputing by Peter S. Vogel. After receiving a Temporary Restraining Order ('TRO') the Judge ordered a mediation conference between the plaintiff software licensor and their customer in Alabama...

Lawyer and Neutral David Allgeyer on Arbitrating Patent Disputes

Posted on August 13, 2009
In Search of Lower Cost Resolution: Using Arbitration to Resolve Patent Disputes By David A. Allgeyer Patents and other forms of intellectual property are extremely important to most businesses. Companies have come to realize that their intellectual property often represents their most important asset...

Patent Infringement Prevention from High-touch Legal Services

Posted on August 10, 2009
I was just alerted to a new Start Up Company Blog -- The High-touch Legal Services Blog - which recently provided a little good advice for licensees entering into nonexclusive patent license agreements  below. So, if you enter into a nonexclusive patent license agreement as licensee, make sure the licensor is obligated to stop third-party infringement...

Antitrust Attack on Reverse Payment Settlements in Pharma Patent Cases

Posted on August 10, 2009
This just in from Weil Gotshal's Summer 2009 Antitrust Update:  DOJ Allies with FTC in Antitrust Attack on Reverse Payment Settlements; While FTC Also Seeks Legislative Solution by WG attorneys Ausra O Pumputis and Alan R. Kusinitz. The term 'reverse payment' in the context of pharmaceutical settlements encompasses agreements reached between patent holders and an alleged infringing manufacturer of a generic version of the patent holder's branded drug in which monetary or other consideration flows from the patentholder to the alleged infringer...

How to Respond to Cease and Desist Orders from Trademark Owners

Posted on August 09, 2009
(left, the T-shirt at issue) We talk a lot about the resolution of IP litigation here, but not a lot about IP conflict prevention.  I've long said that the best insurance against liability is good relationships.  The New York Times Magazine today (in its terrific "Consumed" column by writer Rob Walker - author of Buying In) demonstrates the way in which responsible and respectful action following a trademark infringement claim can lead to a happy collaborative resolution...

Are You Certain You Don't Have Coverage for the IP Dispute?

Posted on August 08, 2009
Once, a long, long time ago in a legal practice far, far away, I represented, for a brief time, the interests of Guess? in litigation against Jordache.  Many years after I'd left the firm for which I was an associate at the time, I learned that both companies had "gone behind their lawyers backs" and settled the long-running, acrimonious litigation, and proceeded to sue their attorneys for malpractice...

WIPO Mediation Case Studies

Posted on August 03, 2009
From the files of the World Intellectual Property Organization Set out below are examples of mediations conducted under the WIPO Rules. The Center also makes available a summary overview of its caseload. These examples have been prepared while respecting the confidentiality of WIPO proceedings...

Negotiating in Bad Faith

Posted on July 28, 2009
Some time ago I conducted a survey about "bad faith" in negotiation.  I facilitate the negotiated resolution of lawsuits several times a week.  During at least half of those negotiations, one party or another at some point in the process will say "they're negotiating in bad faith!"  This is a sign to me, the facilitator, that the speaker believes his bargaining partner is engaging in some type of conduct he believes to be unfair or oppressive...

Eight Challenges to the Successful Mediation of Patent Cases

Posted on July 27, 2009
Seasoned mediators say that the negotiation does not really commence until the parties reach impasse.  The eight impediments to settlement of patent cases on appeal listed by Chief Circuit Mediator Amend in Patent Mediation on Your Horizon? are impasse creators, not settlement preventers...

Best IP Settlement Advice in the Role of a Cartoon Character

Posted on July 27, 2009
Courtesy of Charles Fincher at the LawComix Blog.  My own personal best deposition-settlement story:  our settlement team was in London while I completed the corporate designee deposition.  Condition of settlement:  the designee's deposition would never be transcribed...

PEZ vs. PEZ

Posted on July 26, 2009
Read all about it at Pez takes on the museum of Pez.  Why don't the parties enter into an affordable licensing agreement with the fee reflecting the value to Pez of a Pez Museum.  I hate the term "win-win" but goodness gracious! this does seem to be more of a benefit than a burden for Pez!  And litigation is as yesterday as, well, Pez!!  Thanks to Grant Griffiths of Blawg Tweets for making it so easy to cruise the blawgosphere and a special thank you to 3C Patent Law (a new IP Law Blog to me) for the great write-up and image which I'm copying here.

Successful Fed Circuit Mandatory Mediation Program Takes a Patent Dip in First Half of '09

Posted on July 24, 2009
by Robert Rose of Sheldon Mak Rose & Anderson    In 2005, following the lead of the other United States Courts of Appeals, the Federal Circuit initiated a pro bono Appellate Mediation Program.  James Amend is the Chief Circuit Mediator, and the program is administered by Wendy Dean, the Circuit Mediation Officer...

"Spinning" the Story from In the Loop

Posted on July 24, 2009
O.K., so this clip is not from In the Loop but from Armando Iannucci's BBC television series 'The Thick of It," a series that "looks at the misadventures of a cabinet minister and the pressure he is under from the Prime Minister's office and one particularly prickly policy enforcer, Malcolm Tucker, a character who also appears in 'In the Loop...

Patent Arbitration - Abiding By the Rules

Posted on July 14, 2009
by Robert J. Rose of Sheldon, Mak, Rose & Anderson The arbitration of all patent disputes, including patent validity, is governed by 35 USC § 294 and the Federal Arbitration Act, Title 9 of the U.S. Code.  Of special note, and likely to be overlooked, is the statutory obligation to give notice of any award by an arbitrator to the USPTO...

Making Aggressive Opening Offers

Posted on July 11, 2009
(right, Amy Poehler as the Dollar takes a beating from the Euro on SNL) Because people often ask me about the wisdom of making aggressive opening offers, I'm summarizing one of my favorite articles on anchoring by a Kellogg Graduate School of Management Professor...

Litigation Accounting for In-House Counsel

Posted on July 11, 2009
Our good friend John DeGroote talks with Law.com about Making Sense of Corporate Warfare.  Excerpt below.  Full must-read article at the link. Creative litigation executives are adopting a new frame of reference resembling a business accounting program...

Mediator's Proposal: Take It or Leave It by Robert J. Rose of Sheldon Mak

Posted on July 11, 2009
by Robert J. Rose * of Sheldon Mak Rose & Anderson   Both sides seem to be progressing to resolution, but have hit a wall.  Is it time for the mediator to make a proposal for settlement?  If so, should the mediator use the value that the case is worth (which one side or the other likely won't accept), or the value that the mediator thinks will settle the case? The typical 'mediator's proposal' is given to both sides as a take-it-or-leave-it proposition to resolve the case...

They Must Still Be Doing Mediation Opening Statements in Texas

Posted on July 11, 2009
Follow LawComix on Twitter here and Charles Fincher's hilarious law partners Richard Prickman and BeatriceBitcher (of Bitcher and Prickman) here and here because practicing law is just too hard not to roll on the floor laughing out loud at least once a day.

The RIAA Strikes Again

Posted on July 07, 2009
(image from Modern Humanist) RIAA Wants Harvard Prof to Take Case Recordings Off the Web Posted Jul 6, 2009, 03:25 pm CDT By Sarah Randag The Recording Industry Association of America says that Harvard Law Professor Charles Nesson is violating court orders and privacy laws by posting recordings of pretrial hearings and depositions to his blog and to the Berkman Center for Internet and Society website...

Negotiating the Global Environment on Independence Day

Posted on July 04, 2009
(image from Lift Think) On this Independence Day celebrating U.S. freedom from the tyranny of foreign rule, I'd like us to consider whether a new day might be added to our holiday calendar -- Global Inter-dependence Day.  This thought is spurred by the New York Times' Green, Inc...

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