TechShow update, The Guide update

March 31, 2005 on 2:12 pm | In Patent Searching | Comments Off

Live from TechShow…Matt Homann talking about "portable FireFox" for USB thumb drives (which reminds me of Jeremy Wagstaff’s article on "A Directory of Programs Designed for USB Drives"…all while I am updating The Guide with this:

III.   Related Guides:

a.    Robert Ambrogi’s article on on-line patent and trademark searching resources.

b.    Dennis Crouch’s article on how to find intellectual property law news.

c.    The Spire Projects page on Searching Patents.  [NEW]

Print This Post Print This Post | Email This Post Email This Post | | Subscribe via e-mail

Related Posts:

Off to TechShow

March 30, 2005 on 2:11 pm | In Current Affairs | 1 Comment

Well, I’m on my way to Chicago, for BlawgConnect 2005, TechShow, and LexThink! Chicago…sitting on an airplane jotting some notes in a neat little wiki program for the Mac called VoodooPad.  I don’t usually use VoodooPad for composing blog posts…long story, I was reading a book Matt Homann recommended (Clients for Life) and was inspired by a section on how the Internet is changing the practice of business (and law) and had a great thought for later discussion with my rethink(ip) brothers…so I pulled out a legal pad and pen only to find that airline cabin pressure and certain types of pens don’t mix (not to self, bring a ball point pen next time).  Rather than spend the next 4 days with ink stains on my fingers, I decided to pull out my iBook to jot down my notes (which will be later cut and pasted to the rethink(ip) wiki (we are beta testing a new wiki called StikiPad).  With my notes written down, I turned to writing this post. 

I am real thankful that I brought my .mp3 player (Dell Digital Jukebox) to blast the tunes thereby covering the screaming of the two toddlers sitting in the row behind me kicking my seat.  Two more hours to go.  Gonna be a long flight.

I am really looking forward to (in-between said aforementioned activities) spending hours and hours and hours with Buchanan and Sorocco brainstorming about the practice of IP law…how we can all work together to rethink(ip) and encourage others to do so as well. 

So what is "rethink(ip)?"  I wish I could define it…I wish I could explain.  In a broad context it is a collaboration between three patent attorneys from three competing, small "inland" IP law firms to get individuals, small businesses and corporations to rethink about how IP law is practiced, how it is paid for, how invention disclosures are obtained from employees, how they relate with their IP counsel, how their IP counsel should treat them, software, training, consulting, etc.  But it is so much more than that. 

Flying over eastern Colorado right now…wondering if there is any more of a remote place in this country (other than Alaska).  Have you ever looked at eastern Colorado/western Kansas on a map.  Want to travel there?  Hope you like driving.  You’re going to be flying into Denver or KC and driving over (not a single large airport anywhere to be found).  One of the attorneys in my firm get’s the pleasure of driving all over rural Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska next month taking depositions.  Not going to be fun…anyway, I digress.  [no, that is not a rant against small, rural towns…I went to high school in a rural town in Missouri (and have a blue FFA jacket to prove it)….please save your Napoleon Dynamite jokes for later.]

I don’t know that I have ever had an opportunity to spend so much time (via e-mail and Skype chats) with two patent attorneys who are just as geeky as myself (my wife seems to think that my trip to Chicago is for "Nerd Attorney Fest 2005").  From internal discussion e-mail lists, to phone conferences, to a joint blog (coming soon), to an internal wiki where we brainstorm all of our crazy ideas…we are true geeks.  Probably similar, in more ways than we’d ever imagine, to what is taking place in Ernie/Denise/Marty/Tom/Dennis and their Between Lawyers concept (other than the fact that we’ve kept most of our discussions about the law in the dark (for now) AND we are three competitors talking about how we change our area of the law).  As we continue forward with this rethink(ip) project, expect this cloak of secrecy to be gradually lifted.

I hope you are at least interested in what we have in store…our opinions are sure to rock the boat and annoy some of our larger firm, larger city competitors.  Hang on tight, it’s going to be a bumpy ride…not just because the toddlers are reenacting a recent PowerRangers episode on the back of my seat right now…

Print This Post Print This Post | Email This Post Email This Post | | Subscribe via e-mail

Related Posts:

rethink(ip) aloud podcast #2…my interview with Promote the Progress Blog’s J. Matthew Buchanan

March 29, 2005 on 2:20 pm | In Uncategorized | Comments Off

Rethink_2dip_2dlogo_small

Whew…finishing up my to do list before TechShow.  Last thing on my list is "get the next rethink(ip) podcast up."  Well, it’s up.  Here’s the direct link to the .mp3 as well as an RSS feed for your aggregator/podcast player (I.e., ipodder)

This "rethink(ip) aloud" podcast is the first in my series of "IP Blogger" interviews where I’ll try to (over the next year) interview as many of the IP Bloggers as possible about their blogs…from why they started, what they learned, what they love/hate, and even what posts they wish they never made. 

My initial IP Blogger Interview is with Matt Buchanan of the Promote the Progress Blog (with Mr. Sorocco there for color commentary).  The podcast runs roughly 12 minutes long and is around 11MB in size.  Hope you enjoy it…

Our next two podcasts will be interviews with Doug Sorocco about his PHOSITA blog, and with me (Doug and Matt turned the mic on me) about The Invent Blog.  Once you suffer through this "who are these rethink(ip) guys" podcasts…we’ll start podcasting more about "the rethink(ip) concept."

Show Notes:

Of course…your feedback is appreciated.  Leave comments below or send them to rethinkip@gmail.com.

Print This Post Print This Post | Email This Post Email This Post | | Subscribe via e-mail

Related Posts:

Pro se litigant wins trademark dispute

March 27, 2005 on 12:34 pm | In Lawsuits | Comments Off

BoingBoing has a link to an interesting tale of an enterprising web page developer who had set up a fan page for a local mall.  The mall developer sued to shut him down, he registered a number of *sucks.com sites (including one directed at the developer’s attorneys) and represented himself pro se in the litigation (he eventually had the assistance of counsel) and WON.  [I recommend reading the condensed version…the full version is extremely detailed]

UPDATE.  Oops…I missed some really great TechLawAdvisor posts on this same topic.  See:

Print This Post Print This Post | Email This Post Email This Post | | Subscribe via e-mail

Related Posts:

Inventor Roundup

March 25, 2005 on 9:24 am | In Uncategorized | Comments Off

Neil F. Martin of Gordon & Rees LLP on “When and How to Search Trademarks and How to Interpret Search Results“

Dispatches Weblog on Venture Capitalists “Saying No to Entrepreneurs and Inventors.”  [Via BizzBangBuzz]

Print This Post Print This Post | Email This Post Email This Post | | Subscribe via e-mail

Related Posts:

Tech Tip Thursday: patently del.icio.us

March 24, 2005 on 8:42 pm | In Tech Tips | 5 Comments

Sorocco started it…now both Buchanan and I are becoming converts.  What is it?  Del.icio.us.

What in the world is del.icio.us?  When first asked, I told Buchanan (in the most unhelpful way) that it is "social bookmarking."  I think he was worried it was some disease his high school home economics teacher warned the class about.  While it is technically "social bookmarking," that term generally is gibberish to the average person.  Let me try my own explanation.

Del.icio.us is essentially an online bookmark site that asks you to (when you create a bookmark) pick one or more words categorizing the website.  For instance, other people have created links to my "Downloading Patent Copies" post and have categorized it as:  patents, useful, blogs, and/or brevets (I have no idea why "brevets"…).  One main benefit of doing this is that you can later search through all of your own bookmarks to find all of the bookmarks you previously tagged as "useful," or "patents," or "blogs," thereby quickly finding the link you were looking for.

A second benefit is the aggregation of everyone else’s categorizations.  For instance, you can find all links other people have tagged as "patent" by searching http://del.icio.us/tag/patent (replace "patent" with any other word to perform other searches).  Then, you could set up an RSS search of the patent "tag"…http://del.icio.us/rss/tag/patent…you get the point.  The possibilities are endless. 

I’ve only been using it for the last 2 weeks…but think it has some real potential.  If you want to see my page (to see what crazy stuff I am linking as "save for later reference")…the link is here:  http://del.icio.us/jurisnipper

One more link to the road.  The "hottest" web pages and blog posts on the Internet (as determined by individuals creating del.icio.us bookmarks in their accounts) can be found here.

Homework assignment (if you want to learn more):  Buchanan’s del.icio.us 101 post, Sorocco’s  del.icio.us Screencast and these two articles.

Print This Post Print This Post | Email This Post Email This Post | | Subscribe via e-mail

Related Posts:

One Feed to rule them all…

March 23, 2005 on 9:13 am | In Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Couple things on my mind this morning…

Rethink(ip) Podcast #2

Our next rethink(ip) aloud podcast should be up in the next few days (early next week at the latest).  Stay tuned.

“One Feed to rule them all, One Feed to find them, One Feed to bring them all and in the darkness bind them”

Wouldn’t it be great if there was one single RSS feed you could subscribe to (rather than having to subscribe to each individual feed) that would pull in all of the blawgcasts (law podcasts) into your podcast player???  That would be great!

UPDATE:  You’ll have to read the comments for the details, but Kevin Heller (TechLaw Advisor) points me to http://blawgcast.com/.

Print This Post Print This Post | Email This Post Email This Post | | Subscribe via e-mail

Related Posts:

Today’s Dilbert

March 23, 2005 on 8:27 am | In TGIF | Comments Off

Today’s (3/23/05) Dilbert has a “copyright” theme.  FYI.

Print This Post Print This Post | Email This Post Email This Post | | Subscribe via e-mail

Related Posts:

Quote of the week

March 21, 2005 on 6:36 pm | In Uncategorized | Comments Off

"Remember, you do not need a pod to listen to a podcast."  — Martin Schwimmer, Trademark Blog.

Print This Post Print This Post | Email This Post Email This Post | | Subscribe via e-mail

Related Posts:

Need a copy of a patent…the Guide has been updated

March 21, 2005 on 2:28 pm | In Patent Searching | Comments Off

My "Guide to Downloading Patent Copies on the Internet" has been updated with the following info:

n.  "PatentVue (www.nfovea.com) is a USPTO/EPO Patent Search and Download application.  It offers an enhanced keyword search (boolean, multiple terms, date-based, etc), bulk patent number search/download, saved searches, delta-searches (patents and applications since the last time a search was run), local patent library facility, and easy interactive drill-down access to HTML versions of patents during the search process.  A free 30-day demo version is available from Cnet at www.download.com.  The demo version limits you to 5 Patent PDF downloads per day.  It can be upgraded to the full version to allow unlimited patent downloads for US$199.99.  PatentVue runs under W98/Win2000/WinXP and requires the Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 and Adobe Acrobat Reader."

Print This Post Print This Post | Email This Post Email This Post | | Subscribe via e-mail

Related Posts:

Next Page »

Powered by WordPress with Pool theme design by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds. Valid XHTML and CSS. ^Top^