TGIF two for one special

This cracked me up. Scott Adams (Dilbert fame) has a blog. Today’s entry discusses a recent Dilbert comic showing a lawyer killed by a porpoise.

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TGIF, Cooking for Engineers

It’s been a while since I’ve done a TGIF post…this installment brings us one of the blogs that made it out of Probation in my aggregator, namely Cooking for Engineers. Check out his patent pending recipe format (Tabular Recipe Notation)…very cool. If you enjoy Alton Brown’s work…you’ll like Cooking for Engineers.

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Bias in Invention Disclosures

We have a guest post up today at Rethink(IP)…Bill Meade of BasicIP on Proactive Invention Management. In the post he talks about invisibias and how he learned “to reduce it by making 3 broad positive assumptions to try to cut out the compounding of many little negative assumptions that were costing invention disclosures.” Do you have an invention invisibias???? How many invention disclosures is it costing your company?

Technorati Tags: basicip, invention, invisibias

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New IP Kid on the Blawgk: Australian Patent Information Centre blog

I received a nice message from Rodney Cruise at IP Menu today:

Just thought I’d let you know about a new blog that IP Menu/IP Organisers has recently started. It is called “Australian Patent Information Centre”, and as the name implies it is all about Patents and Australia. It is primarily directed at professionals in Australia and New Zealand and covers latest Patent Office decisions, Federal Court & High Court cases, News from IP Australia, IP seminars and conferences etc. It is located at www.patentaustralia.com.

Their IP Menu site is one of the best resources for worldwide IP news around.

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Idaho, Law Practice Management and Blawgs

Posting has been a bit light here for the past few months.  Between work, Rethink(IP) projects (big announcement coming in the next (hopefully) couple of months), and other projects…I don’t have the time I used to to blog.  Alas…

Probably the biggest non-Rethink(IP)/work project on my lap is the newly formed Idaho State Bar Law Practice Management Section.  After the dissolution of our “Solo and Small Practice” Section (about the same time the ABA section went away), and after all of the great law practice management ideas dumped into my head by Jim, Matt, Dennis, Patrick, GAL, my fellow Rethink’rs and Carolyn (and every other blawger), I decided to push for the creation of a LPM section here in Idaho (whew…what a long sentence).   

Last week it became official…we have a new section!

It is going to be a fun ride…I’m really looking forward to sharing all of the great knowledge out there with my fellow (local) practitioners.  Who knows…maybe we’ll create our own blawg too!  To all of you who have shared law practice management advice, tips, and insight on your blawgs in the past couple of years (or more), THANKS for the encouragement.

Tips, suggestions, ideas, press, reprint rights to material we can use, etc. etc. etc. are always welcome.

Notice to my fellow blawgers:  if you are coming to BlawgThink 2005, make sure you chat with me about all of this.  I’d love to drag some of you out here for a CLE (and some scenery) in the next year!

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Tech Tip: Viewing TIFF files in Windows

The default viewer for TIFF files in Windows XP is Microsoft’s built in Windows Picture and Fax Viewer (if memory serves me right).  Microsoft’s viewer is nice, but if I’m on the USPTO web page viewing patent images (in .tiff format) I’d like to do it from within my browser (Internet Explorer, Netscape, FireFox) and not in a separate program.

Enter third party browser plug-ins.  My favorite is AlternaTiff (free) which works in Internet Explorer, Netscape and/or FireFox. 

There are others, for instance InfoGraph’s TiffViewer (also free).

If you are still using Windows Picture and Fax Viewer…try something else for a change.  I bet you’ll like it.

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Apple gets IP

The RIAA doesn’t get it. The MPAA doesn’t get it. But Apple does. What is it? IP.

A number of years ago Apple started selling music online for 99 cents a track via its iTunes Music Store (iTMS). Pundits at the time called them idiots. Who would pay for music they could (illegally) download for free? Over a half a BILLION downloads later, looks like Apple was right. People, given the opportunity to do the right (legal) thing, will chose to do so.

Guess what idiotic thing Apple did today? They released an new iPod…the iPod Video and a new version of iTunes/iTMS which allows you to pay $1.99 to download music videos and television shows. Missed last week’s Desperate Housewives? Just download it legally via iTunes and play it on your computer or on your iPod Video. Sheer genius!

Copyright owners need to realize that the cat is out of the bag…it is time to look at ways of profiting from people’s desire to have easy access to your works instead beating the dead horse of suing your own (potential) customers.

In the meantime…Apple is laughing all the way to the bank (and I’ll be adding something to Santa’s list).

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Got Blawg? Want Blawg?

No, this one is not for sale, but the guys at LexThink (Matt, Dennis) have put together a conference on Blawging 101.  Entitled “BlawgThink 2005,” if you are interested in blogging, you really should (1) send Matt/Dennis a request for an invite and (2) put November 11-12 on your calendar. Here is what they both previously said about it.

Join leading legal bloggers in Chicago on November 11 and 12 for BlawgThink 2005: a bold new approach to learning about legal blogging. This first of its kind two-day event brings together the largest group of legal bloggers ever assembled for two days of education, innovation, fellowship and fun.

The first day of BlawgThink will feature structured educational sessions led by top legal bloggers covering basic and advanced topics, including blogging how-to, blogging tools, marketing tips, content strategies, RSS and ethics. Each session will have ample time for questions, demonstrations, and hands-on practice.

The second day of BlawgThink, in true LexThink! fashion, belongs to you. Though we’ll have some planned activities, much of the agenda will be determined by the attendees. By combining collaborative brainstorming techniques with small group discussion groups, we’ll give you an unparalleled opportunity to meet, learn from, and interact with the best and most innovative legal bloggers in the country.

You bring your ideas, enthusiasm, and creative energy and we’ll all come up with cool ideas to improve your blog, increase your blogging “ROI” and change the legal blogging landscape.

They have even talked Matt, Doug and myself into being guest speakers on collaborating with other bloggers/group blogging.

Speakers include:  Matt Buchanan, Ben Cowgill, Dennis Crouch, Fred Faulkner, Peter Flashner, Brandy Karl, Cathy Kirkman, Rick Klau, Jim McGee, Steve Nipper, Kevin O’Keefe, Evan Schaeffer, Doug Sorocco, Ernie Svenson, Jack Vinson, and J. Craig Williams.

Finally…check out Matt Homann’s recent post “Why is BlawgThink Important.”

See you there…

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Sick? Stay home.

One of our office policies is “if you are sick…stay home.” There is nothing worse than having the flu or a cold rampage through the office (and everyone’s households).

Lifehack.org points to this WebMD article on “Call in Sick or Go to Work?…how to tell if you’re contagious.” The article points out that “lost productivity accounts for up to 60% of employer health costs.”

Hear someone cough. Print. Hand to person who coughed. Point at door. Wash your hands.

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Patent Drafting in Law School…

Albany Law School has a class on “Patent Prosecution and Patent Drafting.” How cool is that?

I went to law school in the late mid-1990’s and I actually took the first IP class offered at the school, a solitary class that covered patents, copyrights and trademarks (yes, I know that some other schools have always taught IP…). Thank God law schools are starting to take IP law more serious.

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