Welcome to IPWatchdog.com

IPWatchdog.com is an Internet magazine (or blog if you prefer) focusing on the business, policy and substance of patents and other forms of intellectual property, such as copyrights and trademarks. Unlike many blogs, we strive to provide information and detailed analysis with magazine length articles and op-ed pieces. Today IPWatchdog is recognized as one of the leading sources for news and information in the patent and innovation industries.

The founder of IPWachdog.com is Gene Quinn , a patent attorney, law professor and a leading commentator on patent law and innovation policy. Gene practices patent law with Zies, Widerman & Malek, and and the majority of his patent practice is focused on software patents, business methods and Internet innovations. Since 2000 he has also been a principle lecturer in the PLI Patent Bar Review Course.

Gene launched IPWatchdog.com in October of 1999, and since that time the site has been a trusted resource on intellectual property for many millions of unique visitors who have come for information and news. Gene has been quoted in n the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the LA Times, Popular Mechanics, CNN Money, USA Today, the ABA Journal, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, The Oklahoman, Patent World and various other newspapers and magazines worldwide. He speaks regularly at conferences and events.

Renee Quinn has the title of Chief Operating Officer, which means she does just about everything necessary to keep the business running smoothly. She is primarily in charge of advertising, she writes articles occasionally, she is in charge of accounts and bookkeeping and more.  In some circles Renee is known as the Social Media Diva™, and has given presentations on various social media topics at conferences hosted by the Association of Intellectual Property Firms (AIPF) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Angel Krippner is the IPWatchdog Executive Assistant. This means she facilitates behind the scenes doing a variety of things. She does a variety of administrative tasks, provides research for articles, is primarily responsible for moderating comments, coordinates articles incoming from our many guest contributors and feature columnists, and researches industry news daily to make sure we don’t miss anything important.

We invite you to read through our articles on patents, intellectual property and business. We also have many excellent Guest Contributors who offer their unique expertise and commentary on a variety of issues. We hope you will find this information useful. If we can be of assistance please feel free to contact us.

IPWatchdog.com Awards and Numbers

In January 2013, the American Bar Association Journal announced that IPWatchdog.com was the top Intellectual Property blog on the Internet for 2012. This was the second time in three years were were recognized by the ABA as the top IP blog. IPWatchdog was also selected as the top IP blog for 2010. In total, IPWatchdog.com has been selected by the ABA as a top 100 legal blog for four years in a row – 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. See also Third Annual ABA Journal Blawg 100, Fifth Annual ABA Journal Blawg 100 and Sixth Annual ABA Journal Blawg 100.

Below is a summary of our traffic since January 2008. As you can see from this chart, here are our traffic highlights:

• 19 months in a row we over 70,000 unique monthly visitors
• 17 months in a row over 75,000 unique monthly visitors
• 11 of the last 12 months over 80,000 unique monthly visitors
• 7 months in a row over 87,500 unique monthly visitors
• 4 months in a row over 100,000 unique monthly visitors
• 2 months in a row over 110,000 unique monthly visitors

IPWatchdog.com Interviews and Content

IPWatchdog.com is different that most other blogs. We have always tried to stay away from the quick, pithy, 200 to 400 word posts that populate many other blogs. Our niche has been and always will be thoughtful analysis, which means our mainstay are articles 800 words or longer, with a typical article most frequently ranging from 1,200 to 2,000 words. We also do much longer articles sometimes, particularly when trying to fully and fairly summarize an oral argument of a particularly important case at either the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit or at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Our articles are frequently op-ed style articles, some are straight news reporting from industry events, still others are tutorials to explain complicated topics for an interested audience. For several years we have also had the privilege of interviewing a whose-who of the patent and innovation industry.

During 2010 we also published a number of well received exclusive interviews with the likes of Chief Judge Randall Rader, Chief Judge Paul Michel, Former U.S. Senator Birch Bayh, USPTO Director David Kappos, former USPTO Directors Todd Dickinson and Nick Godici and others.  During 2010 we also put more emphasis on reporting live from industry news events, such as from the BIO 2010 International Convention and the AIPLA Annual Meeting. Of course, the familiar opinion commentary has been a mainstay.

During 2011 our interviews continued.  Gene interviewed U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke, IBM Chief Patent Counsel Manny Schecter, Congressman Jason Chaffetz, two of the most accomplished attorneys in the U.S. – Ted Olsen and David Boies, and others.  We also had a break-out moment when in March when Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) referenced Gene Quinn and IPWatchdog.com by name on the floor of the U.S. Senate during debate over the America Invents Act.  Of course, the opinion commentary that has always made IPWatchdog unique continues to be the thing that seems to keep readers coming back over and over again.

During 2012 we again had a number of top flight interviews with industry news makers. During 2012 we interviewed a whose-who of the United States Patent and Trademark Office: David Kappos (USPTO Director), Teresa Rea (USPTO Deputy Director), Margaret Focarino (Commissioner for Patents), Deborah Cohn (Commissioner for Trademarks), Peter Pappas (USPTO Chief of Staff), Bernie Knight (USPTO General Counsel) and Ray Chen (USPTO Solicitor General) and Bob Stoll (former Commissioner for Patents) and Todd Dickinson (AIPLA Executive Director and former USPTO Director). We interviewed Supreme Court super-advocate and former Solicitor General Seth Waxman, and we interviewed AIPLA Presidents Bill Barber and Jeff Lewis, and also interviewed AUTM President Todd Sherer. We also interviewed author, inventor and inventor coach Stephen Key and Erik Iverson, who is Executive VP for Business Development and External Affairs at the Infectious Disease Research Institute.

Starting off 2013, we published a dual interview with both Chief Judge James Smith and Vice-Chief Judge James Moore, the top two administrative law judges at the USPTO. This was followed by an interview with Acacia Research CEO Paul Ryan and IBM Chief Patent Counsel Manny Schecter.

We published 534 articles during 2012, some 148 of which were written by guest contributors. Look for both numbers to increase during 2013. If you are interested in writing for IPWatchdog take a look at our article guidelines and contact us for more information. We are always looking for interesting perspectives and contributions, whether a general topic or specific niche article.

As you may have noticed, during December 2012 we started to “feature” certain articles and will continue to do so, and have commitments from a number of contributors to write at least once a month. This will allow us to continue to broaden our coverage. For example, Joe Allen will write once a month about Bayh-Dole and/or technology management issues. Ed Silverman will write a rundown of the big pharma news of the previous month. Beth Hutchens will write about trademarks, copyrights and First Amendment issues. Ray Millien and Erig Guttag will write about a variety of patent issues.

Please feel free to browse through our pages. In addition to news and informational articles youu will also find detailed information on all aspects of intellectual property law, as well as invention marketing, including discussion of why you should have intellectual property law protection for your business and how to obtain the various forms of intellectual property, including patents, copyrights and trademarks.