U.S. patent law dictates that fees be awarded to the defendant in patent suits "in exceptional cases." The U.S. Supreme Court will hear cases that may help define such exceptions more precisely, leading to a standardized procedure for handling fee awards in patent suits.

The Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse (CADNA) and the Council of Better Business Bureaus (BBB) launched a public education campaign last month to raise awareness regarding new generic top-level domains (gTLDs). This Internet initiative comes at an important time as gTLD​ registration rates are expected to increase 2,500 percent over the next year.

There is a lingering perception among some that intellectual property management strictly concerns the accumulation of wealth from one's ideas. However, a new study from the European Patent Office once again confirmed the salutary effect IP-intensive industries has on the economy as a whole.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is seeking public comment on a proposal that would allow for broad investigation into the business practices of so-called patent assertion entities (PAEs). The government agency would use its power of subpoena to examine the activities of approximately 40 organizations, 15 of which would be centered in the wireless communications sector.

The American Southwest continues to be an emerging hub of technology transfer activities as Mayo Clinic recently confirmed its decision to join the Arizona Furnace startup accelerator program.

The escalation of patent lawsuit filings has been discussed many times in recent years, but the latest statistics surrounding the geographic concentration of that activity may still be surprising to some. According to an analysis conducted by Perkins Coie partner James Pistorino, more than 45 percent of U.S. patent cases were filed in either Delaware of the Eastern District of Texas so far in 2013.

For online music streaming service Pandora, the breadth of its song catalog is a key determinant of the value it represents to customers. Following a recent district court judgment, the company should now be assured full access to the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) catalog through 2015.

The USPTO's Transitional Program for Covered Business Method Patents was specifically installed to dissolve confusion surrounding the validity of financial product and service patents. The framework will soon receive its next test from Branch Banking and Trust (BB&T), which hopes to deflect an infringement suit regarding the electronic transfer of funds.

When a company is first getting operations up off the ground, the majority of its assets are likely to be intellectual in nature. Startups that fail to protect those resources accordingly could consequently risk spoiling any early success with legal troubles down the line.

Honeywell's proposed acquisition of mobile manufacturing hardware leader Intermec had raised the interest of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's antitrust enforcement teams. However, federal officials have now come up with a creative patent licensing solution they believe should uphold fair market competition.