Motorola's management of patents deemed essential to the mobile device industry has invited investigation from authorities in the U.S. and abroad in recent years. This week, a district court ruling officially attached a monetary value to the company's patent licensing improprieties.

The technology transfer programs run by universities and research institutions around the country have been a consistent source of scientific progress and commercial prosperity over the past few decades. Now a new initiative in Northeast Ohio is looking to replicate similar successes for creative minds outside of academia.

Microsoft made a major play for its mobile future this week, announcing the wholesale purchase of Finnish hardware partner Nokia's devices and services business unit for nearly $5 billion. The American firm will also pay $2.2 billion to license Nokia's patents and mapping services.

The Bayh-Dole Act passed in 1980 has been cited in many of the academic technology transfer success stories which emerged over the three decades that followed. University of Michigan professor and medical historian Howard Markel believes it is time for a change, however, suggesting that the legislation is poorly prepared to align with the realities of today's fast-moving biotechnology sector.

After five years of Parliamentary debate, and careful analysis of the international treaties it was beholden to, New Zealand has formally enacted legislation banning software patents.

The so-called smartphone wars waged over the last three years have been viewed as everything from the bane of the U.S. patent system to perhaps the best evidence of its value. One indisputable result of these highly-publicized legal battles, however, is the impact they are currently having on IP management strategies employed by firms in every corner of the market.

Harvard Law School professor Lawrence Lessig is one of today's preeminent thinkers in the field of digital copyright enforcement. Now his academic and legal knowledge will be put to practical use as Lessig goes on the offensive against an Australian music publisher which previously issued a takedown request regarding one of the professor's lectures posted on YouTube.

MakerBot, a leader of the consumer 3-D printing movement, recently unveiled its first foray into 3-D scanners. But as the company breaks ground in a new segment, much of the conversation still centers on how intellectual property implications may shape the future of 3-D production processes.

The importance of leveraging laboratory innovation for economic revitalization has been a bipartisan talking point for several years. Now, New Mexico Senator Tom Udall is planning several legislative proposals designed to streamline the technology transfer process researchers encounter on the front lines.

Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical manufacturer Eli Lilly and Company has had to weather a variety of foreign and domestic intellectual property controversies in recent weeks. After reconciling a trade secrets dispute involving a Chinese business partner earlier in the month, the firm must now defend the validity of a patent covering its second-best-selling drug.