A conversation with AUTM President Fred Reinhart
Since the middle of February 2016, Fred Reinhart (left) is now the immediate past president of the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM). I recently had the opportunity to go on the record with Reinhart as he was winding down his tenure as president of AUTM.
During Reinhart’s year as President, much changed at AUTM. There was a concerted effort to transition to a a strategic board of directors that would result in more dynamic member engagement, AUTM hired a full-time Executive Director, the organization spent a great deal of time developing more effective relationships with industry, AUTM bolstered its relationships with key university organizations, and AUTM began more earnestly working on international initiatives. While more progress was made in some areas than in others, progress has been achieved across the board. All-in-all, Reinhart’s tenure at the helm of AUTM was quite successful and he has helped focus the organization on the challenges that lie ahead as he hands the reins to new president David Winwood.
A patent conversation with Bruce Kisliuk
Bruce Kisliuk retired from the United States Patent and Trademark Office last summer as the Deputy Commissioner for Patent Administration after a 30+ year career at the Office. He is now a senior patent counselor with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. I had always wanted to interview Kisliuk, but the opportunity never presented itself until recently. I interviewed Kisliuk on November 24, 2015, in a wide ranging conversation that lasted nearly 90 minutes.
In addition to a prolonged and detailed “get to know you” conversation where we dive into his musical tastes, that he is a history buff, and not at all into either Star Trek or Star Wars, we talked substantive patent law for an hour. What follows are the highlights of our conversation.
12.22.15 | patent eligibility, Patent Issues, posts | Gene Quinn
On the record with IV co-founder Edward Jung
Edward Jung is one of the co-founders of Intellectual Ventures, one of the largest patent holders in the world. Jung currently serves as chief technology officer at IV, and is responsible for setting strategic technology and new business models for the company.
I recently had the opportunity to interview Jung. The full transcript of our 35-minute conversation appears on IPWatchdog.com. What follows are the highlights of our conversation.
12.10.15 | Patent Issues, posts | Gene Quinn
On the record with Ashley Keller
I recently had the opportunity to chat on the record with Ashley Keller, a co-founder of Gerchen Keller Capital, about monetizing patent rights and the patent market in general. Gerchen Keller provides capital and other financing solutions to companies and law firms involved in complex litigation, including patent litigation. Ashley serves as the firm’s Managing Director. Prior to co-founding Gerchen Keller, Ashley was a litigation partner at Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott LLP, where he handled a variety of patent litigation matters, among other things. Ashley also has the distinction of being a member of a relatively small club of Supreme Court law clerks. He served as a law clerk for Judge Richard Posner at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and Justice Anthony M. Kennedy at the Supreme Court of the United States.
What follows are excerpts from my interview with Keller, which took place on November 5, 2015. To read the complete transcript, please see The difficult environment for monetizing patent rights.
12.1.15 | Patent Issues | Gene Quinn
Quinn, Cuban talk software patents, business of innovation
Recently, IPWatchdog.com has published a series of articles relating to Mark Cuban’s activities and views relative to the patent system. (See here, here and here.) Cuban is no stranger to the patent policy debate, and has gone on the record numerous times explaining that he thinks software patents should be abolished. In fact, he famously donated $250,000 to the Electronic Frontier Foundation for the creation of the Mark Cuban Chair to Eliminate Stupid Patents.
In the comments to the aforementioned articles, Mark Cuban engaged in a spirited back and forth with readers, and with me. I invited him to do an interview with me. He agreed and we conducted an e-mail interview. To read the full interview, please see A patent conversation with Mark Cuban.
11.13.15 | Patent Issues, software patents | Gene Quinn
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03.11.16 | Interviews, Universities | Gene Quinn