I just got another e-mail from my friends at MaxVal telling me about a new free patent tool that they came up with: the “Reference Annotator“. Free is nice.
I believe that the MaxVal patent tools I’ve used in the past have saved me time. I like the IDS Creator and the USPTO widget that lets you look up patent 
maintenance fees with just typing in the patent registration number. Every time I use them they work magnificently.
I think the United States Patent and Trademark Office should incorporate some of these tools right into their webpage.
The new tool is the reference annotator. I think it’s a great tool to review an entire patent document that uses the same element over and over.
Because you have to make sure that you consistently call each numbered element the same thing throughout the patent and sometimes when you’re drafting a patent application the terms get a little mixed up. This tool helps you double check your work seamlessly.
MaxVal Free Patent Tools:
Reference Annotator
This reference tool allows you to search many different terms in the document and assign each term a color. Once a term is assigned a color the document can be easily reviewed at a glance without fear of missing any of the
Article source: http://feeds.lexblog.com/~r/LotempioLawBlog/~3/jbZD3Jemhr0/
Respected and beloved longtime Buffalo patent attorney James J. Ralabate passed away last week at the age of 84. James was part of the “greatest generation.” As a patent attorney he held 
many high patent attorney positions in the industry, most notably he was the director of patents for Xerox Corp.
Mr. Ralabate started writing patents in 1959 and to date had authored more than 1,000 U.S. patents.
In 1950 he graduated from Canisius College with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, and was a chemical engineer in the chemical weapons division of the Army from 1952 to 1954.
From 1955 to 1958, while at law school at American University he was an examiner in the United States Patent and Trademark. In 1958 he became registered patent attorney and became a member of the New York Bar in 1959.
Between 1958 to 1962 Ralabate was employed as patent attorney for Hooker Chemical Corp.
Ralabate was the general patent counsel and director of patents at Xerox Corp. At the time, he was the youngest director of patents at any major corporation in the U.S.
During his 17 years at Xerox, he had technical expertise in all aspects of Xerox’s chemical and mechanical operations, and managed all domestic and foreign patents, as well as
Article source: http://feeds.lexblog.com/~r/LotempioLawBlog/~3/2F_7LYXvbtM/
The Facebook and Yahoo patent battle continues. Just last week Facebook answered the Yahoo complaint of patent infringement and issued the Facebook counterclaims.
Facebook claims that Yahoo is infringing on 10 patents that Facebook now owns.
Of course these counterclaims probably would never have been asserted had it not been for the fact that Yahoo sued Facebook. (Facebook Counterclaim filed PDF).
Facebook is about to go public and it logical to assume the Yahoo strategy of filing the law suit at this time would be to put pressure on Facebook to settle the Patent law suit quickly before the Facebook public offering.
But Facebook has not shown any inclination to settle and fired back with infringement claims of its own. These claims may be the leverage in settlement negotiation that will even the playing field. One doesn’t get a great settlement if you fold your cards early in the game.
Amy Miller from Law Technology News reported that Facebook general counsel Theodore Ullyot said in an emailed statement:
“From the outset, we said we would defend ourselves vigorously against Yahoo’s lawsuit, and today we filed our answer as well as counter-claims against Yahoo for infringing ten of Facebook’s patents. “While we are asserting patent claims of our own, we do so in response to Yahoo’s short-sighted decision to attack one of its partners and prioritize
Article source: http://feeds.lexblog.com/~r/LotempioLawBlog/~3/MWb1XFMM2VQ/
I spoke with with Colin O’Keefe of LXBN TV about the patent infringement suit Yahoo recently filed against Facebook. In the interview, we discuss:
- the numerous patents Facebook allegedly infringes upon,
- why Yahoo chose to file suit now and
- the current relationship between Yahoo and Facebook.
Funny how people want to ask is “Yahoo a patent troll?” As it turns out Facebook just purchased 750 patents from IBM.Bloomberg reported that Facebook purchased IBM patents and “the deal involved 750 patents for software, networking and other technologies.”
I wonder if we are going to see Facebook going after other social networking sites in an attempt to make money. Or is Facebook going to useuse their new patent portfolio as defensive patents. Remember patents don’t give you a right to make or use the invention it only gives you a right to stop others from using it.
Article source: http://feeds.lexblog.com/~r/LotempioLawBlog/~3/d4i79Cd-AMM/
Yahoo filed an infringement lawsuit against Facebook based upon 10 patents. Some of the patents have been around for a few years. What took them so long to make this claim?
Or is it just coincidence that Facebook is about to go public with huge IPO. Facebook filed for a $5 billion initial public offering which could be one of the largest technology IPOs ever.
Do you think Yahoo is thinking that a few shares of Facebook would be nice addition to their Stock portfolio?
The Yahoo complaint (PDF) lists 10 patents in which they argue Facebook has infringed. Barring a settlement it will be up to a jury to decide if the Yahoo claims are valid.
Yahoo released a statement that Yahoo has
“invested substantial resources in research and development through the years, which has resulted in numerous patented inventions of technology that other companies have licensed. These technologies are the foundation of our business that engages over 700 million monthly unique visitors and represent the spirit of innovation upon which Yahoo! is built. Unfortunately, the matter with Facebook remains unresolved, and we are compelled to seek redress in federal court. We are confident that we will prevail.”
Facebook and Yahoo have recently teamed to provide a SOCIAL BAR which allows Yahoo users to know what their Facebook friends are reading
Article source: http://feeds.lexblog.com/~r/LotempioLawBlog/~3/mqbJCX0yyFA/
Recently the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued a warning to all trademark applicants regarding “Non-USPTO Solicitations that Resemble Official USPTO Communications.”
The trademark office warned that companies not affiliated with the USPTO were using the USPTO database to find and locate new trademark applicants and are sending out notices that resembled an official notice.
Shortly thereafter a few of my recent trademark applicants called me and asked me if they should pay “bill” from the trademark office. I told them it was just a scam solicitation and that the services they were soliciting will be taken care of by my office. You have to wonder how many people received this type of letter and just paid it thinking they were paying an official bill.
I wonder how many big companies receive letters like this and it goes to their accounting department just gets paid. The companies sending out these letters must be making money off it otherwise they wouldn’t continue to send these letters out.
Is what they are doing illegal? Probably not. Supposedly they are providing the services which they tout in the letter. Each one of those services are services that a trademark applicant could possibly use. However does every trademark applicant need those services?
The bottom line it’s just the
Article source: http://feeds.lexblog.com/~r/LotempioLawBlog/~3/s5_6voNje0Y/
Anoop Gopakumar and his group at MaxVal provide patent litigation alerts every day and today Anoop provided me with some interesting data on patent filings over the past year.
3963 patent litigation cases were filed 2011.
I’ve posted below a detailed chart analysis of who filed those patent lawsuits. The first chart below looks at the top-25 filers of patent infringement lawsuits during the past year.
Patent Group LLC, a non-practicing entity (NPE) filed the most patent lawsuits in 2011. The PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) group defines NPE as
“an NPE is an entity that does not have the capabilities to design, manufacture, or distribute products that have features protected by the patent.”
The second table breaks down the number of lawsuits filed by month.
If you want to get a free year of alerts you can follow this link and sign up and register for free alerts regarding patent litigation. It’s free and you can also download the complaints that these companies filed to initiate the lawsuits and see the actual allegations of patent infringement and how the big-time law firms put together a complaint regarding patent infringement.
I just looked through some of the Maxval free patent tools that they provide. Clearly these free tools can certainly help analyzing patents with regard to infringement and otherwise. I like the USPTO widget that they provide
Article source: http://feeds.lexblog.com/~r/LotempioLawBlog/~3/CW5mL0hZCq8/
The Buffalo Law Journal asked me to write a guest column in their recent edition which featured a Special Report on Legal Technology/Social Media.
Here is the article:
Getting a piece of the social media pie
Through social media, the Internet is once again profoundly changing the world in which we live and how we operate.
The social networking avenues of the Internet – such as writing a blog, connecting with other professionals on LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+ and Twitter – give virtual access to millions of potential clients to anyone who wants to take advantage of it. Lawyers are inherently conservative and loath to try anything new. But it’s hard to ignore what everyone else is doing on the Internet and it’s not surprising that law firms want a piece of the social media pie.
Just because the world has gone virtual, the reality that lawyers get clients by word-of-mouth hasn’t changed. Word-of-mouth is still the most powerful referral mechanism and the basic tenet of networking. What’s different in the age of social media is “how” an attorney’s word-of-mouth reputation develops. Social networking, whether on the Internet or in person, is and always will be a matter of connecting and building relationships with thought leaders and potential clients.
Lawyers who were struggling to learn to use computers just a few years ago now realize that it’s not
Article source: http://feeds.lexblog.com/~r/LotempioLawBlog/~3/cPQXWVwEqSs/
As a patent attorney in Erie County I often get asked, “how can I get my products on the shelf in Walmart?” Shelf space is like real estate and every inch inside the store has to be accounted for and the product on that shelf must earn a profit equivalent to the cost to keep that shelf space available in the store.
An independent inventor has to be able to sell his idea to Walmart such that Walmart will remove other things currently in the store to make room for that product. This is a very difficult thing to do for an independent inventor.
Well this might have changed because right now, on the Walmart webpage they have a contest to “get on the shelf”.
Even if you don’t win the contest you certainly can get some exposure on their webpage which is visited by thousands of people while the contest is going on.
You can go to the Walmart webpage and enter your invention up until February 22, 2012. If you win the contest you will get your product on the shelf at all the Walmarts throughout the country.
You can get your friends and family to vote for you and hopefully your great idea will get on the shelf at Walmart and you can be on
Article source: http://feeds.lexblog.com/~r/LotempioLawBlog/~3/HutfbCQ_8So/
I have always been amazed at the complex inventions that have come about hundreds of years ago. Leonardo Da Vinci (15 April 1452 – 2 May 1519) was an Italian Renaissance genius who memorialized many of his of inventions in thousands of pages of notes and drawings.
Although it is said that he intended to order them all in a single volume, the pages were never put in the order that he wanted. And it is said that the 6000 pages that were saved are only about 20% of the total that he created. One can only imagine what was lost to all of humanity because those pages were not saved.
Most enduring to his legacy are his inventions and designs. In an attempt to share some of da Vinci’s genius a sampling of many of the machines that he drew have been faithfully constructed from Leonardo’s notebooks by a modern team of scientists and craftsmen in the heart of the Renaissance, Florence, Italy and now are currently on display in the exhibit called “Machines in Motion” in the Buffalo Museum of Science until August 28.
The uniquness of Machines in Motion lies in the fact that many of the mechanisms are life-sized and fully operational and combine a fascinating hands-on experience with an exploration of
Article source: http://feeds.lexblog.com/~r/LotempioLawBlog/~3/VbKaKjngE44/