For Doug…

I’ve really enjoyed my friendship with fellow patent attorney Doug Sorocco (PHOSITA blog) over the past few years…particularly how we rib one another about where we live (me - Idaho, him - Oklahoma). In that he is on vacation while the rest of us are at work….Doug, this one is for you:

Related Posts:

• Old Kid on New Blawgk - PHOSITA
• Four Years!
• Idaho rabid jackalope bite attorney

New blog…”SOLO Independent IP Practitioners”

SOLO Independent IP Practitioners — “A community discussion group for sole IP practitioners, wherever they are in the world - whether in their own businesses or working for others - as well as new small firms on a growth curve.” [via Inter-Alia]

Related Posts:

• A coming collaborative discussion community for attorneys???
• Question from reader: IP from Defendant’s Point of View
• New Blawg on the Blawgk - Law & Entrepreneurship

Blawgr is back. Think Blawg meet Digg.

Tech Law Advisor noting that Blawgr is back. This time reskinned as “the online community of legal bloggers (powered by Pligg).” Unless I’m mistaken, Pligg is an open source knock-off of Digg (http://digg.com/), making Blawgr essentially Digg for Lawyers. I’m looking forward to seeing where this one goes…

Related Posts:

• Blawgr
• Blawg Review #48 up at Rethink(IP), Blawgr
• Parole for blogs in my probation folder

Blawg Review #146

Welcome to Blawg Review #146. This is actually my second time hosting Blawg Review…I was party to the infamous Blawg Review #48 (hosted by the group blawg RethinkIP (with Matt and Doug ). Note to self, not everyone appreciates it when you try to “Rethink” Blawg Review.

This time around I’m hosting Blawg Review on National Inventor’s Day (U.S.). Congress has designated February 11th (the anniversary of the birth of the inventor Thomas Alva Edison, who had over 1,000 patents) as “National Inventor’s Day.” Since we’re talking about inventors…don’t forget that you can still nominate someone for National Inventor of the Year.One common “inventor” misconception is that Edison was the most prolific American inventor. He wasn’t. That title goes to Donald Weder of Highland, IL (hometown of blawger Matt Homann) and client (according to issued patents) of the patent law firm that brings us the PHOSITA patent blog. Small world. What exactly does Mr. Weder have patents on? Basically everything you get from your florist that isn’t grown from a seed (for instance, the pleated foil wrapper the pot of flowers is placed in).

Enough patent trivia. On with patent/inventor themed Blawg Review #146!

I’m not so sure that Blade was an inventor, I think it was Whistler…but the actor that played Blade (Wesley Snipes), managed to get a number of mentions in blawgs this week, including The Snipes Trial considering “Voluntary Compliance” and the Sox First blog (not to be confused with Monica Bay’s “Sox Last” blog) which thinks that Wesley Snipes: a little guilty of tax dodging.

What’s up with Ohio and bloggers? Is there a finite number of Ohio law blogs? The Ohio Employer’s Law Blog writes about the “Rebirth of the Megatrial,” The Practice talks about a transvestite and a crackpipe in “Jamie” gets paper, the Ohio Employment Law blog points out that the Ohio Supreme Court holds that retained memory can constitute a trade secret, and finally, the Ohio Practical Business Law Counsel reminds us “Why every client should want an attorney who blawgs.” I think she’s biased.

If only inventors had a current list of the patent blogs. Oh, wait…Brett Trout already did that! Of course, according to Marry Dudziak, the New York Review of Books thinks that the blogosphere and its inhabitants is unhelpfully narrow-minded. So maybe clients don’t want blogging attorneys. Or do they? I’m confused. As if it even matters…apparently there may be a finite number of legal blogs that can exist (according to Simple Justice ). Or maybe not (according to LexBlog).I’ll know we’ve reached capacity for patent blogs when someone starts The Fastener Quality Act Blog. Yes, there really is a The Fastener Quality Act … it “protects against the sale of mismarked, misrepresented, and counterfeit fasteners.” Even funnier is the fact that the US Patent and Trademark Office is in charge it. Next time you use a quality fastener, you know who to thank.

Usually, when inventors/patent practitioners think of the USPTO and fasteners, something else comes to mind. But, I’ll be polite and not bore you with a discussion of proposed patent rule changes and the grief it is causing the patent bar. I’ll leave that discussion to Securing Innovation (”Patent Office Professionals Oppose Bill“), the PLI Patent Blog (“Recap of GSK/Tafas v. USPTO SJ Hearing“) and the Patent Baristas (”Examination Support Document (ESD) Could Add $26,000 to Patent Costs“).

Super Bowl week…think blawgers would be talking about sports? Jaime Spencer ponders the morale boost to criminal defense attorneys given by the NY Giants’ upset of the Patriots. John Phillips talks about Employment Lessons Learned From Bobby Knight. Professor Randazza mocks the Patriots over their trademark application for “19-0.” Gene Quinn saw it too. Marty points out they’ve got three years to file that Statement of Use…maybe they were referring to NEXT year.

There were a number of other IP stories this week, for instance Ron Coleman tells an excellent story of credit cards, advertising ideas, and trademarks. Priceless. Matt Buchanan (another Ohio blogger) apparently has so much time on his hand that he has started a blog for rants (The Op/Ed Page) and a patent journal (he’s accepting submissions if any of you are interested). The Patently-O Blog ranks the presidential candidates based upon their interest level in IP matters in “Don’t forget to vote.” Russ Krajec talks about the best part of being a patent attorney…working with inventors. I completely agree…other than the few times a year where you get to work with crazy inventors (e.g., the one a couple years ago paused the interview long enough to channel a friend from another planet who told him I was telling him the truth). Mike Dillon thinks technology in-house counsel shouldn’t cave in to “patent trolls”…for the good of the industry. Easier said than done. And, just in case any of you want to take a photograph of this post, William Patry discusses the latest on whether a photograph of a copyrightable object is a derivative work.

Lawyers in the news? You betcha! How about a lawyer advertising services by sending junk faxes? Eugene Volokh discusses how the case could impact law bloggers (and suggests a better way of dealing with the problem). Simple Justice has its own take. Not to be outdone, the Drug and Device Law Blog discussed an e-mail (sent by a lawyer) accidentally sent to the wrong person (a reporter with the same last name) in “Department of Corrections.” Makes you want to go back and follow some old advice (2006) Jim Calloway previous gave us on beating Outlook’s AutoCorrect into submission.

Apparently, story telling was popular this week. We saw both “IP ADR Dictionary: “S” is for Story Telling” and Idealawg — storytelling in the practice of law. Story telling. Writer’s strike. Reality TV..in a weird combination of Wapner and Springer, May It Please The Court asked “BrideZilla and GroomKong or Legitimate Lawsuit.” Infamy or Praise talks about his love of the TV show Lost in Lost is Found, whereas a couple blogs (Volokh, Concurring Opinions, Volokh) took turns debating the classic play/movie “Twelve Angry Men.”

A few other posts that caught my eye: Health Blawg discussing Wal-Mart and health care reform, GAL discussing You Know You Work for a Great Firm When…, Slaw on Closed Networks & The Problem with Facebook (and lessons for lawyers).

Finally, apparently Blawg Review’s Ed (aka the Unknown Comic) has decided to show his face in public (again).  There are even photos circulating on the Internet…no, not THOSE photos, but these.

Blawg Review has information about next week’s host, and instructions how to get your blawg posts reviewed in upcoming issues.

Related Posts:

• Blawg Review…dood!
• Other ways to find new blawgs to read
• Blawg Review #48 up at Rethink(IP), Blawgr

Four Years!

Crikey, I’ve been updating this blog for four years now?

[First Post]

Oh, how the patent blogging landscape has changed since then. When I started the blog, I would post on any and everything patent related that I could find…lawsuits, new Federal Circuit cases, funny “TGIF” posts…whatever caught my eye that day. Over the next few weeks-months, Buchanan’s blog, Sorocco’s blog, Crouch’s blog (and other patent blogs) came on the scene. Each new patent blog finding its own niche, pushing the others to find their own niches too. The diversity of patent blogs right now is astounding…and I’ve had a great time getting to know my fellow authors, making some amazing friends in the process.

I’ve really enjoyed the past four years…here’s to the next four! Thanks for reading!

Related Posts:

• Tips for prospective blawgers
• “What the Funny…Patents” blog (wtfpatents.com) goes live
• Happy Blog Birthday!!!

New IP Blog of Note - Securing Innovation

The folks at ip.com have ventured into the blogging world, starting the “Securing Innovation” blog. The blog touts itself as covering “managing intellectual property, patents, trademarks and trade secrets.”

A few recent posts of note:

• A short guide to defensive publication
• Writing technical disclosures
• Getting started with technical disclosures
• Solving business problems and managing risk with technical dislcosures

Impressive! I look forward to reading more.

Related Posts:

• Article: IP for In-House Counsels
• Tips for prospective blawgers
• Happy Blog Birthday!!!

What is a reasonable royalty rate?

As usual, “it depends.”  However, the Patent Baristas blog has an excellent answer to that question.

Related Posts:

• How long does it take for the USPTO to review a patent application for the first time?
• Tips for prospective blawgers
• New (to me) IP Kids on the Blawgk

Don’t have time to read oodles of IP blogs? Aggregate them!

Did you know that IPLawAdvisor.com aggregates 75+ IP blogs in once place?  It’s called the IP Law Daily.

IP Law Daily is a kind of daily blawg review for IP and media law. The editors are currently reading and aggregating the posts that most interest them and which they believe will most interest people interested in copyright, trademark, media and patent law from approximately 75-100 blogs (websites) plus offering occasional postings highlighting interesting decisions, issues and news items that I come across.

I may eventually expand the blawg to cover more unique items, but that would require more resources. If you click the blogroll category you can see some of the sites being aggregated by IP Law Daily, if your site doesn’t appear there and you think it should, please send me an email with a little blurb discussing your site; it doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m not reading your site, it probably just means that I have not gotten around to creating a post about your site.

Related Posts:

• The IP News Car Pool Lane
• USPTO News — automatically sent to you
• Other ways to find new blawgs to read

Recommended Reading: The “Legal Andrew” Blog

While he may only be a law student, Andrew Flusche (Legal Andrew) has a knack for writing great posts, the type of things many of my readers would really enjoy.  Example posts:

• Network with Solo and Small Firm Lawyers (regarding ABA Solosez)
• Maximize productivity with Browser Tabs
• Best Legal Business Card Ideas

Andrew’s blog reminds me a lot of Matt Homann’s, only with a law school twist.  If you like Homann’s writings, give Andrew a try.

Related Posts:

• Five by Five - The Entrepreneurs
• Parole for blogs in my probation folder
• Advice to science major law students

Blawgers….Pony Up Full RSS

Nothing drives me more nuts than legal blogs that do not provide full RSS feeds, instead requiring you to click through to read the entire post. A.k.a., “summary” or “excerpt” RSS feeds.

Other law bloggers (who know what they are talking about) agree with me:

Matt Homann:

Google’s new Blog Search engine only indexes RSS feeds. So if you want to be found, publish a full-text feed. Please.

Rick Klau:

I think the primary justification often given for partial feeds - that it will drive higher clickthroughs back to the publisher’s site - is off-base. As people subscribe to feeds, they subscribe to more feeds. And that means they’re consuming more content, which means that each click out of the feed reader is taking the reader away from more content. In other words, feed reading is consumption-oriented, not transactionally focused. We’ve seen no evidence that excerpts on their own drive higher clickthroughs.

Kevin O’Keefe:

When I switched to full text RSS feeds more people read my blog posts and more people, other bloggers and the media, cited my blog posts in their writings. My reputation as an authority on lawyer blogs grew and LexBlog’s business increased.

Erick J. Heels”

I’m dumping all weblogs from my feed reader that only offer partial feeds (annoying, isn’t it - and I didn’t even make you click through to my website) instead of full feeds. To these sites, I offer two free pieces of advice:

1. Get a clue. It doesn’t matter if your contents is read in a browser, in a feed reader, on a cell phone, or elsewhere.
2. Get FeedBurner. This will also help you with #1.

I’ll come back if you get a full feed. Until the, buh-bye.

Don’t make me follow Dennis Kennedy’s advice:

Over the years, people who use newsreaders to consume RSS feeds often reach a point where they feel that they have subscribed to WAY TOO MANY feeds. They then decide to prune their list of feeds. Historically, one of the easiest ways to cut the feeds you subscribe to is to delete those that offer only excerpts of posts.

The reason should be apparent. You save yourself the time and effort of clicking through to see the rest of the post. If you read feeds offline with a stand-alone reader, as I often do, then you will prefer full-text feeds because you can read everything in the post.

So, give me a full RSS feed! Don’t make me start naming names.

Related Posts:

• Five things I would do differently if I started blogging today
• USPTO News — automatically sent to you
• RSS Feeds: Do you have my most current?