If you are a user of Twitter you have probably seen more than a few tweets using “#FF” followed by a number of names.  #FF stands for “Follow Friday.”  On Fridays many Twitter users will suggest who others should follow by tweeting with the hashtag #FF.  If this is gobbledygook to you where have you been?  Twitter is a great way to stay up to day with news and information from the sources that you like the most.  You need to get on the Twitter bandwagon and give it a try!

For me Twitter is about news and information.  It is the way daily keep my finger on the pulse of what is happening, so I put a premium on those who convey information.   Of course, you can follow me @ipwatchdog and Renee @ipwatchdog_too.

Below are some of my favorites, who in my humble opinion are excellent people to follow on Twitter.

1. @FOSSpatents

Florian Mueller is the founder of the FOSS Patents blog, and on his Twitter account he describes himself as “a competition-focused intellectual property activist with 25 years of industry expertise.”

The FOSS Patents blog covers software patent news and issues pertaining to Free and Open Source Software (FOSS).  He is up to the minute in his coverage of the latest patent litigations in this space, and provides copies to relevant filings.  While he describes himself as anti-software patent, which philosophically puts him at odds with me at times, his articles are fair, balanced and well reasoned.  He is well informed and not afraid to admit personal biases so you know where he is coming from.  If you are not reading his blog you should, and you should be following him on Twitter.

2. @SuffolkIPLaw

This is Andrew Beckerman-Rodau, who is co-director of the Suffolk Law School IP Law Concentration and a Registered Patent Attorney.

Mysteriously he has only a handful of followers on Twitter, making him one of the best kept secrets Twitter has for intellectual property related information. Virtually all of his tweets contain information I find useful. He is active, but only several tweets a day, ranging in topics from patents to copyrights to cyber attacks to Internet privacy. If you are into intellectual property or are interested in interesting technology news you really should be following Andy.

3. @RachaelDLamkin

She describes herself on Twitter as: “IP Litigator; Freestyle Urban Athlete; Investor; Chic; professional and recreational Rabble Rouser.”

Rachael is an attorney with Turner Boyd in Mountain View, California, and someone you should get to know on Twitter. Lamkin has litigated patents from biotechnology to software, and has served as lead counsel in litigations involving medical device patents and mechanical engineering patents. She is not overly active on Twitter, but rather just about right. She tweets articles and retweets others occasionally. I frequently find her tweets to lead to some interesting and relevant information. Inexplicably she doesn’t have all that many followers, but her numbers are growing. Jump on board now so you can say you remember when she had only a few hundred followers!

4. @docketreport

Docket Navigator reads every patent infringement litigation docket sheet in the district courts every day and summarizes the milestones in the Docket Report. They tweet only the best, most interesting district court decisions. Recent tweets include: “Twombly and Iqbal, Not Form 18, Dictate Pleading Standard for Indirect Infringement” and “In Calculating Ongoing Royalty, Litigation-Related Licenses Deemed More Reliable Than Non-Litigation Licenses.” Not everyone will find the tweets of interest, but those in the patent field most certainly should follow Docket Report.

5. @daisyk63

In her own words, Daisy Kubrick says she is “on-line hunting for great new inventions!!”

Based on how active her Twitter feed is she must nearly always be online. Personally I tend not to follow those on Twitter who are extremely active, or even over-active. The last thing I like is a string of tweets from the same person. Tweeting multiple things one right after another to fill up my Twitter page is a quick way to get de-followed, that is unless you are Daisy Kubrick. Daisy tweets and tweets and tweets, yet there is little or no nonsense. If you are into tech news, patent news and information relating to cool innovations then you absolutely need to follow her.

BONUS PICKS

All fun and no play makes Jack a dull boy!  With the labor agreement out of the way and visions of NFL football dancing in my head I thought I might also suggest that NFL fans check out John Clayton (@ClaytonESPN), Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) and Chris Mortensen (@mortreport).

Enjoy!