Innovation Asset Blog

Hackers pose IP threat, according to Symantec head

Steve Bennett, chief executive of Symantec, is warning businesses that intellectual property theft is the greatest threat from hackers. While businesses focus on cyber risks such as malicious attacks and consumer data breaches, hackers are often interested in stealing intellectual property.

Peter Ackerman

Peter Ackerman

Founder & CEO, Innovation Asset Group, Inc.

House to vote on Innovation Act

On Nov. 20, the House Judiciary Committee voted 33-5 to send the Innovation Act to the floor. During the amendment process, the committee added back two important provisions: covered business method patent review and demand letter reform. The Innovation Act is meant to target patent assertion entities and the time and money they cost corporations and innovators. It includes a provision to shift fees onto the losing party in a patent suit. It would also allow consumers of products under patent dispute to wait until suppliers and manufacturers of the product complete their suit to determine whether they are allowed to continue using the product.

Peter Ackerman

Peter Ackerman

Founder & CEO, Innovation Asset Group, Inc.

Largan Precision Co. suing Samsung Electronics Co. for patent infringement

On Nov. 14, Largan Precision Co. filed a complaint in U.S. federal court in San Diego seeking damages for alleged patent infringement by Samsung Electronics Co. Largan is alleging Samsung infringed six of its imaging lens patents in the Galaxy Note and S series smartphones. Largan is additionally claiming the infringement was intentional, and is asking the court to triple any damages rewarded as a result. Largan seeks an order barring use of its technology, as well as a halt to U.S. imports of Samsung products that infringe its patents, according to Bloomberg.

Peter Ackerman

Peter Ackerman

Founder & CEO, Innovation Asset Group, Inc.

The importance of U.S. copyright industries

The copyright industries contributed $1 trillion to the U.S. GDP and accounted for 6.5 percent of the nation's economy in 2012, according to a new study by the International Intellectual Property Alliance. This is a new high for the economic contributions of these industries to the U.S. economy.

Peter Ackerman

Peter Ackerman

Founder & CEO, Innovation Asset Group, Inc.

Elvis intellectual property rights sold

Authentic Brands Group has purchased Elvis Presley's intellectual property and the right to operate Graceland, the performer's home and a current tourist attraction, from CORE Media Group, according to Memphis Commercial Appeal. CORE Media Group owned 85 percent interest in Elvis Presley Enterprises, based in Memphis. Lisa Marie Presley owns the remaining 15 percent of the company.

Peter Ackerman

Peter Ackerman

Founder & CEO, Innovation Asset Group, Inc.

New Mexico universities, national labs discuss tech transfer programs

Last week in New Mexico, the heads of the state's federal research labs and major universities met to discuss how to implement and accelerate technology transfer programs. This meeting of the Collaborative Research & Development Council was its inaugural summit, called by Sen. Tom Udall, D-NM, who is interested in creating new companies in the state based on research and technology from labs and universities. The council also includes members Paul Hommert, director of Sandia National Laboratories, Charles McMillan, director of Los Alamos National Laboratory and University of New Mexico President Bob Frank. Other representatives present were from the Air Force Research Laboratory and White Sands Missile Range.

Peter Ackerman

Peter Ackerman

Founder & CEO, Innovation Asset Group, Inc.

Google book search ruled fair use

Google's book search allows users to view excerpts of scanned books relevant to their query on the search engine. When it began in 2004, the project was controversial even in its infancy. However, crucially, users cannot see the entire text of a book, even though the whole work is scanned. The search engine also provides links to download or purchase physical copies of the work legitimately. Some publishers have agreements with Google to sell ebooks through the Google Play store, which sells apps and books on several devices. 

Peter Ackerman

Peter Ackerman

Founder & CEO, Innovation Asset Group, Inc.

Apple spends $200M annually on patent lawsuits against Android

According to Fred Vogelstein's new book "Dogfight: How Apple and Google Went to War and Started a Revolution," Apple is spending around $200 million each year fighting patent lawsuits against Android. The estimate comes from an attorney who has worked on such cases. According to Business Insider, Vogelstein's book reports Apple has 300 attorneys at four law firms who work on Android pursuits nearly full-time.

Peter Ackerman

Peter Ackerman

Founder & CEO, Innovation Asset Group, Inc.

UW-Madison to open tech transfer program

The University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, known as WARF, recently announced a new technology transfer program called Discovery to Product, or D2P.

Peter Ackerman

Peter Ackerman

Founder & CEO, Innovation Asset Group, Inc.

Growing importance of IP spurs new law school courses

According to The Financial Times, the growing importance and visibility of intellectual property management in the media and business worlds has led many top law schools to offer a specialization or extra courses in intellectual property law. Though the job market for law school graduates has suffered recently, there is still strong demand for lawyers who understand patent law, according to the source.

Peter Ackerman

Peter Ackerman

Founder & CEO, Innovation Asset Group, Inc.

Photographer awarded $1.6 million in actual damages in copyright suit

Andrew Paul Leonard is a professional photographer whose preferred subject matter is microscopic. He photographs using a scanning electron microscope, or SEM. In 1995, Leonard photographed human bone marrow stem cells.

Peter Ackerman

Peter Ackerman

Founder & CEO, Innovation Asset Group, Inc.

Rockstar files suits against Google, Android manufacturers

Telecom giant Nortel went bankrupt in 2009 and auctioned off its patent portfolio. Though Google tried to acquire it, ultimately the bidding escalated to a point where the winner turned out to be a consortium of tech giants, currently operating as Rockstar. The companies involved in purchasing the patents from Nortel are Microsoft, Apple, RIM, Ericsson and Sony. At the end of October, Rockstar filed suits against Google and seven manufacturers of Android phones, claiming they had infringed various patents.

Peter Ackerman

Peter Ackerman

Founder & CEO, Innovation Asset Group, Inc.

StemCells, Inc. acquires patent portfolio

According to The Wall Street Journal, StemCells, Inc announced its acquisition of a portfolio of U.S. and Canadian patents. Previously, the company had held an exclusive worldwide license to the patents in question. Broadly considered, the portfolio covers technologies for the manufacture and proliferation of purified populations of human neural stem cells, as well as their therapeutic and drug discovery uses.

Peter Ackerman

Peter Ackerman

Founder & CEO, Innovation Asset Group, Inc.

Twitter's IPO marred by infringement claims from IBM

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Twitter announced it will be raising the price of its stocks in its initial public offering to the range of $23 to $25, from the previous range of $17 to $20. In the same filing, it announced it had received a letter from IBM alleging Twitter had infringed at least three U.S. patents held by the company. Famously, Twitter itself holds remarkably few patents, a state of affairs that many have said could jeopardize its IPO. In contrast, IBM holds an array of patents.

Peter Ackerman

Peter Ackerman

Founder & CEO, Innovation Asset Group, Inc.

More groups ask Congress to address patent assertion entities

A letter sent to the leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate judiciary committees requests legislation to combat patent assertion entities. The signatories to the letter include the Computer & Communications Industry Association, National Retail Federation, National Grocers Association, American Gaming Association, Printing Industries of America and the American Hotel and Lodging Association.

Peter Ackerman

Peter Ackerman

Founder & CEO, Innovation Asset Group, Inc.

WIPO industrial design treaty still in the works

The World Intellectual Property Organization Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs, and Geographical Indications was unable to reach a tenable conclusion for an industrial design treaty during the WIPO general assembly earlier this year. It is convening again from Nov. 4 through Nov. 8 to discuss the matter further.

Peter Ackerman

Peter Ackerman

Founder & CEO, Innovation Asset Group, Inc.

Fair use in the digital age

According to Inside Higher Ed, there are many reasons to be optimistic about the growing definition of what fair use of copyrighted material means in the academic world. As universities adopt new technologies for the storage and delivery of information, the shifting understanding of what fair use means is very important to administrators and faculty alike.

Peter Ackerman

Peter Ackerman

Founder & CEO, Innovation Asset Group, Inc.