Twitter Inc., which made news for having only nine patents at the time of its initial public offering in November, agreed to purchase 900 patents from International Business Machines Corp. The purpose of this deal is to obtain access to new technology and to begin to build an intellectual property portfolio that will serve as a defense for Twitter against infringement suits. The agreement between Twitter and IBM was signed in December and announced Jan. 31. It also resolves a dispute between the two companies that began when IBM wrote to Twitter last year about possible infringement of three of its patents.

The National Association of Manufacturers recently released a study by Bill Kerr, associate professor at Harvard Business School, and Chad Moutray, chief economist for the NAM. The study found unfair competition facilitated by stolen software has cost U.S. manufacturing nearly $240 billion and 42,220 jobs between 2002 and 2012.

U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain ruled earlier this month that Costco Wholesale Corporation can proceed with its defense that seeks to prove the "Tiffany setting" is now a generic term, according to Rapaport. Tiffany & Co. sued Costco last year, claiming the wholesale store infringed its trademark "Tiffany setting" and in so doing diluted Tiffany's brand, counterfeited its jewelry and used unfair advertising schemes to sell diamond rings.

Technology transfer arrangements to bring scientific discoveries out of research institutions and onto the market are important for many organizations, from colleges to hospitals. The Healthcare Innovation Alliance network, which is a group of eight healthcare systems, universities and organizations, aims to help its members commercialize the results of their research more quickly, according to Xconomy. The Cleveland Clinic allows other members of the group to use its commercialization staff and resources in exchange for a royalty from any technology licensed with its help.

Academic publisher Elsevier, a subsidiary of Reed Elsevier that publishes journals in the medical, technical and scientific fields, has begun to send takedown notices to universities that display the works of their own faculty online. According to the Washington Post, Elsevier is within its legal rights to do so, as it owns the copyright to these works. That is not in dispute, but longstanding industry practice has generally been to overlook academics distributing their own work. Elsevier is now changing that practice and adopting a harsher stance on its copyright ownership.

Cochlear Ltd., an Australian manufacturer of hearing implants, lost an infringement trial over patents related to Cochlear implant technology recently in Los Angeles, according to Bloomberg. The jury awarded $131.2 million in damages to the Alfred E. Mann Foundation for Scientific Research, a nonprofit medical research foundation.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Jan. 22 in favor of medical device manufacturer Medtronic Inc in the company's suit with privately owned Mirowski Family Ventures LLC, according to Reuters. Mirowski had alleged the larger company infringed its intellectual property in making certain pacemakers. Medtronic licensed the patents in question from Mirowski, but in 2007 Mirowski alleged Medtronic was developing new products that would also require royalty payments. Medtronic asked a judge to rule its pacemakers do not infringe on Mirowski's patented technology, which is licensed to Boston Scientific and Guidant Corp.

Two screenwriters, Stephanie Counts and Shari Gold, have accused Fox's television show "New Girl" of stealing elements of their television pilot script, according to Inside Counsel. Counts and Gold have filed a lawsuit against "New Girl" creator Elizabeth Meriwether and director Jake Kasdan alleging Fox's comedy is based on their own script for a television series called Square One.

The Chinese Ministry of Public Security released figures on Jan. 21 about its efforts to stem intellectual property infringement, according to The Global Times. As many as 59,222 suspects of intellectual property violations were seized by the Chinese police last year. These suspects were involved in 55,180 cases whose estimated value totals 173 billion yuan, or approximately $28 billion.

William and Kate, England's Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, have separately established companies to protect their intellectual property rights, according to Metro. Prince William founded a firm named APL Anglesey, and Kate started CE Strathearn. Prince Harry, William's younger brother, also established a company to protect his own intellectual property, called Tsessebe.