Patent Law Practice Center

Don’t Miss Next Week’s “IP-Driven M&A: The Revolution Has Arrived”

Join us next week for the PLI seminar, IP-Driven M&A: The Revolution Has Arrived, as we will be live blogging from select patent driven panels. There is also a live webcast from the seminar in case you won’t be in the San Francisco area.

In the world of high-tech M&A, patent analysis has historically been relegated to the later “due diligence” stages of an M&A transaction and the focus has been primarily if not exclusively on patent risk factors (e.g., the target’s exposure to third party infringement claims or the potential loss of a critical inbound license).  Except in rare cases, the strategic value of the target’s patent portfolio has not been a factor in sourcing or pricing the deal.  Now all that has changed and strategic patent value has been a driving force in some very significant recent M&A transactions.

The all-star faculty examines the reasons for the change, the ways in which such IP-driven M&A transactions are being structured and valued, and predictions about the expansion – or collapse – of this new market. Learn from the best. The faculty includes current and former corporate IP counsel from Apple, Cisco, Google, Kodak, Intel, JDSU, Nortel and Yahoo, as well as veteran Silicon Valley outside counsel, seasoned investment bankers, and valuation specialists.

Best of the 6th Annual Patent Law Institute

We here at the Practising Law Institute are pretty excited at how this past week’s 6th Annual Patent Law Institute exceeded expectations in the caliber and frankness of the featured panelists. The panels ranged from patent prosecution and litigation, to strategic and transactional discussions, to the ultimate in panels: the judges’ panel where federal & district court judges discussed the most relevant issues facing their courts along with some of the top patent attorneys in the country. If you missed this amazing institute, you’re not out of luck! The Patent Law Institute will have a second run in San Francisco, California from March 19-20, 2012, and registration is still open. Until then, here is a list of highlights, a best of the best if you will, from select panels throughout the Patent Law Institute. (more…)

Advanced Patent Prosecution Workshop: Chemical & Pharmaceutical Claim Drafting

Last week, I attended PLI’s Advanced Patent Prosecution Workshop 2011 in New York where an esteemed panel of experts offered hands-on claim drafting and amendment writing techniques.  The program was organized into four technological sections: Biotechnology, Chemical/Pharmaceutical, Electrochemical and Electronics/Computers. I attended the Chemical/Pharmaceutical segment where Michael Davitz, Partner at Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider and Practice Center Contributor, discussed Chemical and Pharmaceutical Claim Drafting.  Here are some highlights from his presentation….

• Development of a Patent Portfolio – patent portfolio is developed in the context of a business plan and where in the life cycle the product is.
• Generic Player – differentiate product from innovator and create difficulty for competitors, other generics.
• Innovator – at what stage is the development? Integrate FDA and patent filing strategies and develop patents with an eye towards forcing infringement.
• Strategies for Early-stage and Late-stage Products
• Developing a Portfolio of both Listed and Unlistable Patents
• Start with the end-game and plan backwards (more…)