Just two years after its October 2008 launch, daily deal website Groupon had amassed approximately 35 million registered users across 250 global markets. Business growth plateaued and ultimately receded over the next two years, however, prompting the firing of founder and CEO Andrew Mason this past February. But prior to his departure, Mason was able to make some telling investments in the company's patent portfolio.

Pharmaceutical and biomedical firms are among the closest observers of international intellectual property management regulations, and recent research suggests that they believe European Union patent reforms will ultimately be more favorable to the life sciences sector than those passed within the America Invents Act.

The implementation of the America Invents Act beginning in September 2011 was intended to signal a new era of patent prosecution efficiency, and while it is too early to make definitive conclusions, it would seem as though the legislation has actually been counterproductive in reducing litigation rates.

Internet hosting giant Rackspace has elected to do a bit of public service on behalf of its technology sector brethren, according to GigaOM, by standing up to an entity that has plagued mobile application developers with a series of nearly identical patent infringement claims. Rackspace plans to pursue the new inter partes review option made available via the America Invents Act to challenge the fundamental validity of the patents in question.

The Information Age has brought many valuable intellectual property management resources into the public domain, but recent research suggests that there is still no substitute for qualified legal counsel when inventors look to mint their first registered trademark.

When high-tech patent portfolios appear in the news, it is often as the product of an ongoing legal battle between competing firms. Yet according to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), fewer than 2 percent of all tech-centric IP agreements lead to such formal dispute proceedings. What's more, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods that keep the two sides out of the courtroom often yield outcomes that are less expensive and more productive than those derived from traditional litigation.

University of Richmond researchers recently sparked vigorous debate within the patent community with a comprehensive analysis of the USPTO's application approval history over the past 17 years. While some have attributed the rising allowance rate seen under the Kappos administration to improved administrative efficiency, others are concerned that it may connote a drop in quality control standards.

Mobile technology and patent management intersected many times in 2012 as names like Apple, Google, Research In Motion, Samsung and Motorola all had the legitimacy of their portfolios called into question at various times throughout the year. Although it remains to be seen what innovations and conversations lie ahead for the industry, it seems as though companies on all sides have taken the importance of diligent asset management to heart in planning their 2013 strategies.

Swiss pharmaceuticals manufacturer Novartis was denied patent protection for a promising cancer treatment, Glivec, after India's Supreme Court ruled that the latest generation of the medicine failed to meet the nation's comparatively high threshold for novelty. As a result, both biomedical corporations and affordable healthcare advocates are weighing the global implications of this decision.

The so-called safe harbor clauses associated with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) have come under increased scrutiny in recent years as new forms of content creation and distribution have strained the 20th century legislation. A recent ruling in an ongoing dispute between record label UMG and now-defunct online video platform Veoh may have confirmed and set several significant precedents on how copyright liability will be interpreted.