Innovation Asset Blog

Peter Ackerman

Founder & CEO, Innovation Asset Group, Inc.

Candy Crush Saga company resolves two trademark fights

Mobile game developer King recently resolved two trademark suits it had with other game developers, according to Morning News USA. It has ended its battles with the makers of The Banner Saga and CandySwipe.

Peter Ackerman

Peter Ackerman

Founder & CEO, Innovation Asset Group, Inc.

Intellectual property ownership and business relationships

According to The New York Times, employers increasingly own their employees' intellectual property. Now more than ever, companies and universities are winding up as assignees of the inventions of their workers. Indeed, employment agreements increasingly give businesses rights to skills, ideas and even professional contacts, which cannot be protected under traditional intellectual property law.

Peter Ackerman

Peter Ackerman

Founder & CEO, Innovation Asset Group, Inc.

Massive open online courses raise intellectual property questions

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are becoming increasingly popular at universities around the world. Who owns the intellectual property rights to the course material for MOOCs remains an important question in many cases. Whether the university hosting the course owns it or the original author of the curriculum does seems to depend largely on individual university policy.

Peter Ackerman

Peter Ackerman

Founder & CEO, Innovation Asset Group, Inc.

Does the US Sanctions Program impact your intellectual property?

The U.S. has a set of laws and regulations imposing sanctions against particular countries, entities and individuals for a variety of reasons. Collectively, these are known as the U.S. Sanctions Program, managed by the Office of Foreign Assets Control. A sanction prohibits U.S. nationals and companies from doing business with those countries or entities that are subject to a sanction. Penalties for violating them range from criminal fines to imprisonment, according to The National Law Review.

Peter Ackerman

Peter Ackerman

Founder & CEO, Innovation Asset Group, Inc.

Eli Lilly brings Canadian intellectual property woes to US

New Canadian policies recently stripped drugmaker Eli Lilly of rights to two popular new drugs, and the company has decided to bring this dispute to the U.S. Lobbyists are working in Canada, and have begun efforts in the U.S. as well. Lobbyists are asking the U.S. to add Canada to the Priority Watch list of countries that don't do enough to protect and enforce intellectual property rights. Canada was removed from this list in 2013. Eli Lilly's lawyers are also asking arbitrators to award it half a billion dollars in damages if Canada's policies don't change.

Peter Ackerman

Peter Ackerman

Founder & CEO, Innovation Asset Group, Inc.

Roche Holding AG finds two of its patents overruled

In a ruling yesterday in London, Justice Colin Birss found two patents held by Roche Holding AG were invalid, according to Bloomberg. The company's patent for its top-selling breast cancer drug Herceptin expires in Europe on July 28, but it had filed two additional patents relating to certain dosages and the composition of the drug in order to prevent generic manufacturers from moving into the market.

Peter Ackerman

Peter Ackerman

Founder & CEO, Innovation Asset Group, Inc.

Purdue partners with Colombian university for tech transfer

Purdue Research Foundation and Universidad de Caldas in Manizales, Caldas, Colombia, have partnered to increase commercialization activities for both universities over the next 10 months. Two Colombian university officials, Rogelio Ocampo and Patricia Salazar, came to West Lafayette, Ind., as part of this partnership, which was funded with grants from iNNpulsa and Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje, both Colombian government organizations.

Peter Ackerman

Peter Ackerman

Founder & CEO, Innovation Asset Group, Inc.

Nokia can sell its business to Microsoft with no patent changes, Chinese regulators rule

Nokia recently won approval from Chinese competition authorities to sell its mobile phone business to Microsoft without having to make any alterations to its technology patent practices. The Finnish company agreed to sell its mobile phone business to Microsoft in a $7.4 billion deal in September, but to keep its own patent portfolio, according to Reuters.

Peter Ackerman

Peter Ackerman

Founder & CEO, Innovation Asset Group, Inc.

Amazon wins patent case against Rovi

Amazon won a patent case against Rovi in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, according to CBR. Rovi, which sells television guide programs to cable providers, alleged Amazon had infringed two of its patents - one that covers making an electronic program guide on a television, and the other that covers allowing a user to select and purchase a pay-per-view program. Rovi had also filed lawsuits against Roku and Netflix, but the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled those companies did not infringe its patents.

Peter Ackerman

Peter Ackerman

Founder & CEO, Innovation Asset Group, Inc.

Silicon Valley satellite patent office delayed

The Silicon Valley area's first permanent satellite patent and trademark office is set to occupy a section of San Jose City Hall, according to San Jose Mercury News. This decision was announced in November after four years of politicians, university leaders and business groups lobbying for precisely this decision. However, the opening of the office will now be delayed until the middle of 2015 because of financial difficulties San Jose is experiencing. City leaders are still committed to the deal, however, and to housing a satellite intellectual property office.

Peter Ackerman

Peter Ackerman

Founder & CEO, Innovation Asset Group, Inc.