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Mapping the Technical Terrain
In the recent article “Mapping Out a Total War Strategy” in the magazine America's Civil War, the author Earl McElfresh tells the story of how Union General William T. Sherman's topographical engineers made maps in support of his march from Chattanooga to Atlanta late in the war. Several useful strategic principles can be drawn from the actions of those map makers and applied to present-day efforts in developing new products and intellectual property to “fight” a competitor. In Sherman's case, many times a battle was fought based on the terrain, and having an intimate knowledge of the terrain put his army in a better position. The same is true for the role in investigating the technical terrain in developing intellectual property.
In the filing of a patent application, the patent agent or attorney is like the commanding officer conducting the battle. This “General” has specialized techniques for drafting and prosecuting patent applications and attempts to get the best patents issued for the client. The equivalent map makers are technical personnel who have studied the competitive landscape for intellectual property prior to and during the invention process. That is, they study the technical area prior to any patent searches in support of the patent filing process. Therefore, patent agents and attorneys can provide a valuable service to their clients by encouraging them to “map” their technology area early in the product development process. Now this does not mean requiring the making of an actual patent landscape map such as can be generated by many popular computer databases. While such maps can be useful, by “map” we mean the in-depth study and understanding of the technical “terrain.”
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough
There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.
Judge Rules Shaquille O'Neal Will Face Securities Lawsuit for Promotion, Sale of NFTs
A federal district court in Miami, FL, has ruled that former National Basketball Association star Shaquille O'Neal will have to face a lawsuit over his promotion of unregistered securities in the form of cryptocurrency tokens and that he was a "seller" of these unregistered securities.
Why So Many Great Lawyers Stink at Business Development and What Law Firms Are Doing About It
Why is it that those who are best skilled at advocating for others are ill-equipped at advocating for their own skills and what to do about it?
Blockchain Domains: New Developments for Brand Owners
Blockchain domain names offer decentralized alternatives to traditional DNS-based domain names, promising enhanced security, privacy and censorship resistance. However, these benefits come with significant challenges, particularly for brand owners seeking to protect their trademarks in these new digital spaces.
Coverage Issues Stemming from Dry Cleaner Contamination Suits
In recent years, there has been a growing number of dry cleaners claiming to be "organic," "green," or "eco-friendly." While that may be true with respect to some, many dry cleaners continue to use a cleaning method involving the use of a solvent called perchloroethylene, commonly known as perc. And, there seems to be an increasing number of lawsuits stemming from environmental problems associated with historic dry cleaning operations utilizing this chemical.