Alternative Routes to Protection of Innovation

Bob Stoll, partner and chair of the Intellectual Property Group in Washington, D.C., penned the IPWatchdog article “Alternative Routes to Protection of Innovation.” The article highlights how some patent prosecution law firms’ practice of providing bare-bones drafting and prosecution product is becoming less common. With today’s dynamic industries and the availability of other mechanisms for protecting intellectual property, including the new federal trade secret law, new thinking about formation of patent portfolios has formed.

Since companies are rethinking how to use patent portfolios, Bob said that many of them are filing fewer and better applications. He added that large filers are less focused on their filing numbers and are developing systems to determine the importance of filing each new application. In addition, lawyers are employing new metrics to evaluate the drafting of patent applications and their prosecution.

Read “Alternative Routes to Protection of Innovation.”