The digital media community has been abuzz in recent weeks tracking the decline and ultimate sale of popular social news sharing website Digg. Now that the fallen company has effectively redistributed its physical and intellectual assets to various corners of the technology industry, it looks like leading social media platform LinkedIn could capitalize on some savvy patent acquisitions.

Most academic researchers understand the potential benefits to be gained from commercializing their innovations, but Drexel University's senior vice provost for research Deborah Crawford recently took that notion a step further and suggested that universities actually have a patriotic obligation to do so.

Texas Representative Lamar Smith was forced to put proposals for the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) to bed earlier this year, but the congressman has stayed true to his intentions of protecting American intellectual assets abroad with newly drafted legislation.

Research In Motion, manufacturer of BlackBerry smartphones and tablets, has suffered a considerable setback in its attempts to turn its fortunes and restore competition with Google and Apple at the top of the mobile device marketplace. A U.S. Federal District Court ruled last week that RIM had infringed upon the patent portfolio of Mformation Technologies when designing the BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's first satellite location made its official debut in Detroit this week, drawing the attention of established and aspiring innovators across the state.

A slate of five digital copyright cases were ruled upon this week in Canada's Supreme Court, but the precedents set in one online music controversy could send ripple effects well beyond the nation's borders.

Microsoft could soon make strides in the mobile marketplace when Windows Phone 8 and the Surface tablet hit shelves later in the year, but as it stands the company is still well behind Apple and Google in terms of total subscribers. To help address this discrepancy in the short term, Microsoft has decided to cash in on the popularity of mobile devices from a different angle in its latest patent strategy.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a specialized body of the United Nations, recently announced plans for high-level discussions meant to root out "innovation-stifling" uses of intellectual property. Standard-setting organizations, key technology industry players and government officials will convene in Geneva come October in hopes of addressing the misappropriation of standards-essential patents.

Leading international business school INSEAD has jointly released its 2012 Global Innovation Index with the World Intellectual Property Organization. The report ranked the innovation capabilities and performances of 141 countries, revealing lingering disparities in patenting resources but a growing awareness for their central role in economic and industrial progress.

Oracle software is at the heart of an intellectual property controversy once again, this time in a way that could redefine digital product ownership rights.