IP SOLUTIONS BLOG

The recent Supreme Court ruling on Bilski v. Kappos left the door open for companies to continue to file for business method patents providing their claims are not too abstract. Some have interpreted this to mean that computer-oriented processes will likely remain patentable subject matter, whereas computer-implemented innovations will require additional evidence of the fact that the concept is nonobvious and patentable.

All this talk about the ruling got me wondering just how prevalent business method patenting is. So we did some research on the history of such patents. Here’s what the data showed:

• Global business method patenting has been on the rise for more than a decade, dipped slightly from 2003-2006, then rebounding with an increase of 637% from 1998 – 2009
• Over 43,000 business method patents filed and granted in 2009
• The United States and Japan are, by far, the most prevalent business-method-patenting countries. Their leading positions can likely be attributed to the technologically-saavy mentality of these nations and their awareness of the opportunity such patents present. The US and Japan are also world financial leaders, and business method patenting has strong origins in that industry.

To learn more, download our special report, The Evolution of Business Method Patenting.

Laura Gaze, Senior Marketing Manager, IP Solutions Bilski, Business Method Patents, Patents Bilski, Business Method Patents, Patents

I attended a World Research Group (WRG) conference in New York with IP corporate counsel. The topic “Open Innovation” was on the agenda, featuring a panel with the senior corporate counsel from SAS, open innovation director from GSK, and an independent consultant.

The moderator started the session by asking how many people in the audience engaged in open innovation in their companies. No one raised their hands. This was very surprising to me.  Were they multi-tasking and focused on something else, or was open innovation still that novel of a topic?

He proceeded by asking questions of the panelists about their involvement in open innovation, its qualities, and its risks and rewards. Following this discussion, a member of the audience raised his hand and said, “Now that you’ve defined open innovation, I would venture to guess that most of us have engaged in it but that we call it something else.”

The moderator queried the audience again: “How many of you engage in open innovation in your companies?” This time, about a dozen of the 50+ people in the room raised their hands.  They just didn’t know it by this trendy buzz word.

Also of interest was GSK’s perspective on open innovation. Helene Rutledge, director of Open Innovation, was brilliant in her responses to the questions. Clearly she is an innovator in her own right in the space. According to Ms. Rutledge, GSK started doing open innovation four years ago, when less than 20 percent of its portfolio was open innovation-related. Its reason for embracing this methodology was to enhance its product development pipeline.

Today, GSK has more than 50 percent of its portfolio attributed to open innovation and it incentivizes people for their “Proudly Found Elsewhere” attitude.

The panel was engaging and interesting. Undoubtedly, the next time the topic of open innovation comes up, the attendees of this session will have a new perspective on the topic.

Laura Gaze, Senior Marketing Manager, IP Solutions Innovation, Open Innovaiton Innovation, Open Innovation

Today is World Intellectual Property Day and Thomson Reuters is proud to partner with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to launch a program giving industrial property offices (responsible for intellectual property and copyright) and government and academic researchers in developing countries free access to global patent information.

The goals of World IP Day are to raise awareness for how patents, copyrights, trademarks and designs impact daily life; increase understanding of how protecting IP rights helps promote creativity and innovation; celebrate creativity and the contribution made by creators and innovators to the development of societies; and, encourage respect for the IP rights of others.

Our hope is that free access to scientific and technical knowledge, in particular knowledge in patents, fosters global innovation by enabling the development of solutions to the world’s technical challenges.

“The theme of this year’s World IP Day, “Innovation – Linking the World,” reflects the goal of this new program which aims to provide access for developing and least-developed countries to technical information found in patent databases”, said Yo Takagi, assistant director general, Global Infrastructure Sector, World Intellectual Property Organization “These databases offer sophisticated search and analysis tools as well as a wide range of other value-added features. Allowing developing and least-developed countries to more fully exploit their creative potential through the effective use of technical information found in these specialized patent databases will further link these countries into the global knowledge economy and foster the development of new solutions to technical challenges faced on a local and global level.”

Read the news release for more information on the program that WIPO and Thomson Reuters will be working together on.

Laura Gaze, Senior Marketing Manager, IP Solutions Global IP, Patents, Thomson Reuters Global IP, IP Solutions, patent, Thomson Reuters, WIPO

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and Queensland University of Technology (QUT) have partnered to offer a Master of Intellectual Property Law program in Australia, beginning in February 2010. The program is the first of its kind to be offered in the Asia-Pacific region.

From left to right: Andrew O'Brien (Regional Sales Mgr., Thomson Reuters), Philip Noonan (Dir. General, IP Australia), Brian Fitzgerald (Prof. of IP Property & Innovation, QUT), The Hon. Michael Lavarch (Exec. Dean, Faculty of Law, QUT), Kamal Puri (Prof. of IP Law & Program Director, WIPO-QUT Master of IP Law), Steve Thom (Senior Advisor, Office of the Director General, WIPO), Dr. Francis Gurry (Dir. General, WIPO), Jeff Roberts (Asst. Director, International Cooperation, IP Australia).

Thomson Reuters will support the innovative program by providing the university with access to its industry-leading patent research and analysis solution, Thomson Innovation. With the program placing special emphasis on IP matters specific to the Asia-Pacific region, the comprehensive Asia-Pacific patent coverage in Thomson Innovation will be useful for students. The aim is to provide future IP law professionals with the necessary tools to succeed in their courses and become acclimated to products that will help them flourish in their careers.

Thomson Innovation provides full-text English translations of Japanese and Korean patent data, English translations of the titles, abstracts and claims for Chinese data, as well as editorially enhanced, English-language abstracts of patents from Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea, New Zealand , the Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan.

Read the program brochure.

Laura Gaze, Senior Marketing Manager, IP Solutions Global IP, Innovation, Thomson Reuters asia, Asia-Pacific

Hear David Brown, President of the IP Solutions business of Thomson Reuters, talk about patent analysis of wind, solar and marine alternative energy technologies in a recent interview with Fox Business co-host Dagen McDowell. David highlights findings from the just-published Thomson Reuters World IP Today Report, “Alternative Energy Powers Up,” written by Sue Cullen, Ph.D., IP Consulting Services director, IP Solutions, Thomson Reuters.

Read the full World IP Today Report on Alternative Energy.

Laura Gaze, Senior Marketing Manager, IP Solutions Alternative Energy, Patents Alternative Energy, Patents, Thomson Reuters

On April 17, we celebrated the first year anniversary of Thomson acquiring Reuters, and the launch of the Thomson Reuters brand.

In the last year, Thomson Reuters has been named the 44th Best Global Brand by Business Week, and we now rank as No. 290 on Forbes Global 2000, an annual ranking of the top 2,000 public companies in the world.

In this video, Peter Warwick, president and CEO, Thomson Reuters, Legal, and members of his executive team talk about what we’ve achieved in the business in the last year, and what opportunities lie ahead.

Laura Gaze, Senior Marketing Manager, IP Solutions Thomson Reuters Thomson Reuters

Our global IP seminar series is now underway, and we have lined up a visionary group of speakers in North America and Europe over the next few weeks. This series is titled “The New Age of Intelligent IP” because the rules for managing intellectual property have truly changed, and IP professionals need to take a fresh approach when dealing with challenges in every phase of the IP Lifecycle. The speakers are leaders in their field and will help illuminate new ways for managing intellectual property.

San Francisco, April 27: 

• Keith Dilley, Director, IP Process & Tools Department, GE Healthcare
• Nick Espinosa, Partner, Dechert LLP
• Patrick Jewik, Partner, Townsend & Townsend & Crew, LLP
• Thomas Marlow, IP Counsel, Fairchild Semiconductor
• Anthony Trippe, Director, IP Analytics, 3LP Advisors

Chicago, April 29

• Hal Fullmer, Partner, Woodcock Washburn
• Steve Sampson, Analytics Manager, IP Department, Legal Services Division, Caterpillar, Inc
• Anthony Trippe, Director, IP Analytics, 3LP Advisors

Philadelphia, May 1

• Jeffrey Farah, Ph.D., Director, IP Portfolio Analysis, AT&T
• Scott Forbes, Ph.D., VP, Technology Ventures, General Electric 
• Hal Fullmer, Partner, Woodcock Washburn
• Anthony Trippe, Director, IP Analytics, 3LP Advisors

Stockholm, May 7

• Anca Condrea, IP Manager, Alcan Beauty Packaging
• Martin Ekenbäck, Patent Licensing Analyst, Ericsson
• Jukka Haapaniemi, IP Manager, Ahlstrom Corporation

Munich, May 13

• Gerold Frers, Leiter Patentrecherche und Informationen, Siemens AG
• Holger Pries, Technologiescout, RETC Renewable Energy Technology Centre GmbH
• Andreas Rutetzki, Patentanwalt, Müller-Boré & Partner

For more information or to register for one of the seminars, go to http://ip.thomsonreuters.com/seminars.

Laura Gaze, Senior Marketing Manager, IP Solutions Events Events, Intelligent IP, IP Lifecycle, patent

According to our 2008 Global Innovation Study, Asian companies are driving innovation in the United States. Of the top 10 innovative companies in the U.S., only three have their headquarters based there. For this study, innovation was measured by the total number of unique inventions issued in granted patents and published patent applications during 2008.

The top U.S. innovators in 2008 were, in order:

1. Samsung (Korea)
2. IBM (U.S.)
3. Microsoft (U.S.)
4. Toshiba (Japan)
5. Canon (Japan)
6. Fujitsu (Japan)
7. Sony (Japan)
8. GE (U.S.)
9. Seiko Epson (Japan)
10.  Hon Hai Precision Ind. Co. Ltd (Taiwan)

Read the full press release for a list of innovators in Europe, Japan, China and Korea.

Laura Gaze, Senior Marketing Manager, IP Solutions Innovation, Patents Innovation, patent