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…
