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.

Indianapolis-based global pharmaceutical manufacturer Eli Lilly and Company was recently the beneficiary of China's revitalized intellectual property enforcement protocols. Earlier this month, a Shanghai court granted a ban on trade secret circulation in the case of a former Lilly affiliate who had breached their pre-employment non-disclosure agreement.

Leaders of copyright-intensive industries such as media and software production have recently expressed grave concerns that the ongoing proliferation of digital piracy poses an existential threat to their businesses. A recent survey of CEO compensation conducted by International IP in the Public Interest analysts paints a much different picture, however.

Victoria Espinel, the White House's first dedicated intellectual property enforcement coordinator, stepped down from her post late last week. As the search begins for a permanent replacement, public and private sector colleagues have been reflecting on Espinel's legacy.

Trade secrets do not always attract the same level of executive attention as separate intellectual assets, but mismanaging these sensitive materials can prove just as costly. Companies should revisit how they classify and protect their trade secrets to help mitigate the potential impact of any future misappropriation. 

The Association of University Technology Managers is currently conducting its second annual assessment of the economic dividends derived from academic technology transfer. Researchers recently offered an advance look at some of the telling statistics ahead of the full report's scheduled release at the end of the year.

When the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the patentability of naturally occurring DNA samples earlier this summer, several pundits flagged the decision as a crucial point of inflection for the biomedical research sector. While the full effects of the ruling remain to be seen, it appears that those expecting biological patents to play a diminished role in the intellectual property system may have been a bit shortsighted in their analysis.

Cloud computing represents one of the technology sector's most promising subcategories. This week, Google opened a portion of its intellectual property portfolio in hopes of protecting the space against the frivolous litigation that has, at times, engulfed application development and mobile hardware manufacturing segments.