USPTO officials met with their counterparts from the European Patent Office (EPO) and the Japan Patent Office (JPO) in Kyoto this week for the 30th annual Trilateral Conference. After reflecting on their achievements to date, the delegates signed a declaration pledging their renewed commitment to promote further development of and collaboration between patent offices around the world.

Although many of the same faces will occupy the halls of power in the nation's capital in the coming months and years, many are expecting important changes to follow the latest round of appointments and elections. Innovation community stakeholders are monitoring this transitional period intently as they look toward the final stages of the America Invents Act's implementation and beyond.

A piece by Gina Smith in Readwrite Social from July 2012 reported on the issuance to Mark Zuckerberg of the very first patent he applied for in 2006 – six years after he filed the application along with a co-inventor.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), long considered Intel's most viable competition, is said to be weighing a variety of potentially transformative patent strategies. According to Reuters, the chipmaker has hired expert advisors from JPMorgan Chase to help evaluate and potentially sell key intellectual assets.

There are still many disagreements left to be settled in the smartphone patent wars, but at least one dispute ended amicably over the weekend. Apple has come to terms with HTC, one of Google's primary hardware allies, in a confidential agreement which will see the end of all outstanding patent litigation between the two sides.

If Google, Amazon and Apple are generally considered the three technology brands with the widest global reach, then Netflix may be the closest source of competition. As the company hints at an expansion of its powers, market analysts have been analyzing how the movie rental giant's patent portfolio may help or hurt its prospects.

The smartphone patent war could take a radical turn in the coming weeks as the Federal Trade Commission considers moving forward with an antitrust lawsuit against Google. Speaking with reporters from Bloomberg under the condition of anonymity, four individuals familiar with the matter confirmed that a group of FTC investigators have formally recommended that their superiors move forward with charges against the company.

Less than a week after Windows 8 was released to the public, patent infringement claims are swirling around one of its central features. Operating system technology designer SurfCast has filed a U.S. District Court complaint alleging that the Live Tiles display seen on Windows Phone and Windows 8 devices makes use of elements covered in a patent awarded to the firm in 2004.

The America Invents Act was signed into law in September 2011. One of its most significant provisions is the change from granting U.S. patents to the “first to invent” to granting them to the “first inventor to file.” This change becomes effective for patents filed on or after March 16, 2013. In a March 12, 2012 piece published in Fast Company, John Villasenor points to some benefits to be gained from continuing to file patent applications right now.

Intellectual property theft has gained mainstream attention in recent months, even sparking discussion in the latest round of presidential debates. While foreign adversaries and opportunistic cybercriminals attract the eyes of law enforcement agencies and concerned business managers, researchers from Verizon have suggested that disgruntled employees could pose a more immediate threat to intellectual property portfolios.