Calling All Patent Blogs
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Written by Gene Quinn President & Founder of IPWatchdog, Inc. Patent Attorney, Reg. No. 44,294 Zies, Widerman & Malek E-mail | Blog | Twitter | LinkedIn Posted: Apr 21, 2009 @ 2:13 pm 
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In February I tried to compile a list of the top 25 patent blogs, but the list was admittedly insufficient. With that in mind, I am giving it another go and looking for nominations.
The original top 25 list was insufficient for several reasons. Not only did I miss one of the top blogs — IPKat — but using Technorati proved to be more difficult to use to ascertain which blogs in are tops in a particular category. I also was unable to figure out a satisfactory way to deal with Patent Docs, because it seems that Technorati has them indexed in multiple different places as if under slightly different URLs they are different blogs completely. I am not sure I will be able to account for that, so if you do have your own patent blog you might want to inquire with Technorati what can be done to consolidate your rankings if you have multiple listings as if those listings are different blogs.
Additionally, Technorati exhibits some fluctuation from time to time that seems to be unexplained. It is still an excellent way to rank blogs because it scores what other blogs are linking to a particular blog within the last 6 months, but because of the nature of linking that objective metric could be somewhat misleading and capable of being manipulated. So I have attempted to devise a better way to rank the top 25 patent blogs, but first, I want to do whatever I can to make sure that I have a complete list of patent blogs. So I am asking anyone and everyone to help me compile a complete list. If you have a patent blog or know of a patent blog please comment on this post and let me know on or before Friday, May 8, 2009.
My plan is as follows:
- Compile a list of the top patent blogs and then determine Technorati rankings for at least two different intervals in order to attempt to come out with a realistic number that is not unduly influenced by fluctuations that have been seen from time to time by myself and others.
- Conduct Internet voting in order to provide another baseline that will be factored into the final determination of the top 25 patent blogs. The polling will be such that 1 vote per computer can be cast.
The Internet voting will ask two questions. First, which of the listed blogs is your favorite patent blog. Second, which of the listed blogs do you regularly read. Only one response will be allowed for the first question, but multiple responses will be allowed for the second question. One point will go to any blog receiving a vote. Presumably this should mean that the favorite blog will get 2 votes per respondent, while other blogs that are read will receive 1 vote per respondent.
The Technorati score will comprise 50% of the overall score, while the Internet voting will comprise 50% of the overall score. The top blog will receive 50 points for the Technorati score, with the second blog receiving 48 points, third blog receiving 46 points and so on. For the Internet voting the top blog will be determined by the blog receiving the most points. The scoring will then proceed as with the Technorati score, with the top blog receiving 50 points for the Internet voting score, second blog receiving 48, third receiving 46 and so on.
My intention is to use the Technorati data to come up with the top 25 patent blogs in terms of Technorati score by the end of May 2009. Voting among the top 25 patent blogs will then commence in June 2009, with the top patent blog being announced at the end of June or beginning of July 2009.
Let the nominations begin.
About the Author
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Eugene R. Quinn, Jr.
President & Founder of IPWatchdog, Inc. US Patent Attorney (Reg. No. 44,294) Zies, Widerman & Malek B.S. in Electrical Engineering, Rutgers University J.D., Franklin Pierce Law Center L.L.M. in Intellectual Property, Franklin Pierce Law Center Send me an e-mail  |
Gene Quinn is a US Patent Attorney, law professor and the founder of IPWatchdog.com. He is also a principal lecturer in the top patent bar review course in the nation, which helps aspiring patent attorneys and patent agents prepare themselves to pass the patent bar exam. Known by many as “The IPWatchdog,” Gene started the widely popular intellectual property website IPWatchdog.com in 1999, and since that time the site has had millions of unique visitors. Gene has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the LA Times, CNN Money, NPR and various other newspapers and magazines worldwide. He represents individuals, small businesses and start-up corporations. As an electrical engineer with a computer engineering focus his specialty is electronic and computer devices, Internet applications, software and business methods.
Gene, please include my blog “Patentably Defined”.
Gene, even if you DID omit the IPKat, you’ve done a lot to raise awareness of patent blogs across a wide readership, for which you deserve a pat on the back.
Here’s another one for your growing list. It’s PatLit – http://patlit.blogspot.com/, which is a youngish blog with aspirations and a respectable archive.
Jeremy-
Thanks for joining the discussion. When it was pointed out to me that I had left out IPKat I just felt horrible. Such an obvious one for me to miss, but it was after I closed it down and then noticed Technorati was fluctuating, so rather than constantly chase a moving target I wanted to try and figure out a better way. Perhaps I will do it twice a year given that Technorati authority only lasts for 6 months at a time, but we will see. I would love to figure out how to do a slightly different measure at the end of the year. Perhaps something like the top blog posts of the year, or most important or most influential. If you have ideas let me know.
I hope all is well.
-Gene
Gene, two things:
* do you run the same listings for other areas, or is this just patent-specific?
* will you be at the INTA Meeting’s Meet the Bloggers session in Seattle this year? It’s being hosted by Mike Atkins (http://seattletrademarklawyer.com/blog/2009/2/26/save-the-date-for-meet-the-bloggers-v-at-inta-seattle-on-the.html)
Best wishes, Jeremy
Gene – it’s a relatively new project, but my blog is called “patentability” and can be found at http://www.patentabilityblog.com. Appreciate your efforts.
Best wishes,
Brian Fletcher
Gene – would you mind to include my BLOG@IP::JUR website http://www.ipjur.com/blog2 into your list? Axel
Gene – could you include the IAM blog (www.iam-blog.com) as well?
Thanks,
Joff
I recently started reading http://www.patentabilityblog.com. It looks like the entries on this blog are getting lots of RTs on twitter. It is pretty good.
Gene – I think it’s a great idea and thanks for including IP Think Tank in the original list.
Joff – perhaps this is something IAM can think about doing for a range of categories of IP-related blog?
Hi Gene,
I would appreciate it if you would include e^(ip).
Cheers,
Erin-Michael
Hello,
It would be nice also to add: IP Intelligence Blog
http://www.ipintelligenceblog.com
I think this one is pretty good.
http://inventblog.com/
Hi,
Can you add this blog focused on european patent law ?
http://europeanpatentcaselaw.blogspot.com
Here is one that was sent to me via e-mail:
http://nanomedicineandip.blogspot.com/
-Gene
“do you run the same listings for other areas, or is this just patent-specific?”
Jeremy-
My plan is to get this going with patent blogs and then move into Trademark blogs and then into Copyright blogs and then at the end of the year do an IP blog ranking. So stay tuned for more announcements on other areas of IP.
As for INTA, unfortunately, I am not going to be able to make it.
-Gene
This voting is really awesome!
Check what bloggers talking about the voting at IPNetwork’s http://ipestonia.ning.com/ IP blogs search!
Thanks Gene for including Patent Circle.
Please include my blog “Competitive and Technical Intelligence ToolBox “