On May 9, 2013, IPWatchdog’s very own Gene Quinn will be attending and presenting at the Business Development Institute’s Social Media Marketing Summit for Law Firms in NY. When they first reached out to IPWatchdog to ask Gene to present at this event, I offered to speak as the Social Media Diva, but given that the program specifically targets Law Firms, they declined my offer expressing their desire to have an attorney who not only knows and understand the importance of social media but one who also utilizes social media on a regular basis as part of the work he does each day! So Gene is definitely their guy!
The summit was put together as a result of increased awareness of social media by law firms and how these platforms can be used to attract new clients and to expand business with existing clients. According to the Summit’s Event Summary, “Most lawyers use social media networking tools such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter and most firms have at least one blog. Many firms now recognize that blogging and social networking have helped produce new client leads.” Gene himself gets all of his client work as a result of his blogging and other social media efforts. So BDI recognized that he is the perfect person to present at the Summit.
I am pleased to announce that in January 2013 we had our biggest month ever in terms of traffic to IPWatchdog.com. During the last Quarter of 2012 we averaged 89,260 unique visitors per month. In January 2013 we had 101,922 unique visitors, which represents growth of 14.2%.
Readers have probably noticed that we are publishing more articles, and we are lucky to continue to have a growing number of periodic guest contributors and regular featured columnists as well, which likely accounts for some of this increased traffic. However, another thing that almost certainly accounts for this substantial jump in visitors is the fact that in early January 2013 we made the decision to disable copying and pasting from IPWatchdog.com. This has caused some to become quite agitated with us, with more people than you might expect writing to tell us that if they are no longer able to copy and paste our articles then they will no longer read IPWatchdog.com.
It was another busy year at IPWatchdog.com, and I want to thank all of our readers and guest contributors for making this year very special.
Although we have not been officially notified by the ABA, the vote totals are now viewable on the ABA Journal Blawg 100 page and it seems that we have been voted the top IP law blog for 2012! We have now been honored as one of the top 100 legal blogs by the American Bar Association for four years in a row, and the top IP law blog in 2010 and again in 2012.
In terms of website traffic, during 2012 we had our best year ever. For 2012 we averaged 82,632 unique visitors per month (compared with an average of about 71,000 for 2011). We also finished 2012 with our top three monthly totals for unique visitors, with 90,656 in October 2012, 89,541 in November 2012 and 87,583 in December 2012.
It was another exciting year for us here at IPWatchdog, and before anything else we want to thank all of our readers for continuing to make us one of the top intellectual property blogs.
If the vote tally on the ABA Journal mobile website is correct, it looks as if congratulations are in order for PatentlyO and Professor Dennis Crouch. We were in the lead going into the last day of voting, but a strong surge by the PatentlyO faithful couldn’t be match by our own late surge. Nevertheless, it is a great honor to be recognized by the American Bar Association as one of the top 100 legal blogs. For three years now we have been in the top 100, which really continues to fuel the drive to excel. Sometimes you go long stretches not knowing whether what you are doing matters, and then someone will send a note, you will hear that a particular article has stirred debate in the industry or that folks at the ABA are noticing and know who you are. The intellectual property community and the patent community specifically, are lucky to have a bunch of excellent citizen journalists and commentators, and it is humbling to be considered one of the best.
It is New Years Eve, which means it is time to take stock by looking back at the past year, remembering, learning and becoming energized with ideas, thoughts and plans for the next year.
At IPWatchdog.com we had a splendid 2011. Our number of readers has again grown year to year. During 2011 we averaged over 71,000 unique visitors a month, compared with 67,640 unique visitors a month during 2010. During 2011 we also published 447 articles, including 98 guest contributions, 34 articles by Renee Quinn — The Social Media Diva™ and 292 articles (or interviews) by me. The remaining posts were largely press releases from the USPTO or AIPLA.
What follows is a look at the top 20 articles (in terms of traffic) published by IPWatchdog.com during 2011. Thank you for reading! We look forward to another great year in 2012!
The holiday season is about having fun, spreading cheer and spending time with family and friends. So in that spirit we put together a few video Christmas cards for our readers. From our family to yours – Merry Christmas! Thank you for reading IPWatchdog.com!
Hello everyone. I am writing today to provide an update to our readers on several matters (i.e., Renee’s surgery and our server issues), and to make a plea for votes in the ABA Blawg 100 contest — IPWatchdog is in the IP Law category.
Renee’s Surgery
Renee at home recovering.
First, as many readers know, Renee had surgery last Thursday to correct a severely herniated disc in her neck. See Social Media Diva to Have an Anterior Cervical Discectomy. This came upon us rather quickly. Upon having an MRI and seeing her doctor surgery was immediately scheduled. The surgery went fine and Renee was discharged from the hospital on Friday, and has been home resting comfortably. She was told to plan on doing little more than sleeping for about 10 days, and she has been complying with doctor’s orders in that regard.
In talking with the surgeon after the surgery we learned more about why surgery was so quickly scheduled. Apparently some of the shooting tingling down into her legs in the days leading up to the surgery is indicative of near imminent and possibly irreversible failure. Glad I knew that after the surgery! In any event, there was no damage to her spinal cord and she is expected to make a full recovery and be better than new. It will just take some time. So she will be on hiatus through at least the end of 2012 and taking it slow as she eases back into the swing of things starting in January.
IPWatchdog.com has once again been selected by the Journal of the American Bar Association as one of the top 100 legal blogs. The voting has now begun to crown the top blog in 12 different categories. IPWatchdog.com is in the IP Law category.
“Voted IPWatchdog for top IP Law Blog http://www.abajournal.com/blawg100 Vote count = XXX. Cast your vote today! @ipwatchdog @plipatentbar @PractLawInst.”
Voting IPWatchdog.com and tweeting as per above will get you 1 entry. 1 entry per person.
As you may have seen, IPWatchdog.com has been named to the ABA Blawg 100, which recognizes the top 100 blogs on the Internet written by lawyers for lawyers. This marks the third year in a row we have been honored by the American Bar Association Journal as a top 100 blog.
Now the voting begins. Last year we were voted the top IP Law blog and greatly appreciate the support we received. Once again this year we are in the same category — IP Law — as is Professor Dennis Crouch’s widely popular PatentlyO blog. If you are inclined to vote for us we would once again greatly appreciate your support.
Over the years IPWatchdog.com has continued to try and add additional perspectives from a wide variety of guest contributors, ranging from well respected practicing attorneys and agents to high profile academics to inventors and pro-patent lobbyists. It is hard to imagine providing such depth of analysis on such an array of topics without having truly wonderful guest authors. So we take this moment to say a very special thank you and to shine the spotlight on them. Each deserve to share in any recognition of IPWatchdog.com. While I am loathe to single any guests out I would be remiss if I didn’t separately thank both Beth Hutchens (10 contributions) and Eric Guttag (9 contributions)!
Without further ado, here are the guest contributors in alphabetical order, along with their contributions for 2011.
You may have noticed that there is a new addition to IPWatchdog’s extensive arsenal of information available to IP professionals, employees and employers alike. This week IPWatchdog.com has launched its newest brand, the JobOrtunities™ Help Wanted Section; which will feature available career opportunities within the IP world.
Most within the patent community who follow the blogs and read articles undoubtedly know that Hal Wegner seems to relish the opportunity to criticize me. I don’t read Hal’s newsletter because I don’t particularly like his brand of cantankerous writing, which seems laced with inaccuracies and misrepresentations. I do, however, get forwarded what he writes about me from time to time, and if what he writes about me and my opinions are typical for his newsletter I wonder why anyone reads what he writes. He is almost universally incorrect about what he says about me personally, what I have written and in order to achieve his point he uses ellipses and outright misrepresents my positions. Don’t get me wrong, I am appreciative that Hal is an avid reader of IPWatchdog.com, I am just perplexed by why he is unable to understand what I write and why he feels the need to cut me down at seemingly every opportunity.
Typically I let what Hal writes slide off my back because I don’t take him seriously. Having said that, the other day he did one of his trademark hatchet jobs on an article I wrote titled The Constitutional Underpinnings of Patent Law. This was actually the second Constitutional article I wrote in as many weeks. One week earlier I wrote Patents, Copyrights and the Constitution, Perfect Together. Hal’s newsletter, sent out with the subject “naive and wholly incorrect understandings,” grossly misrepresented my writings, and was incorrect on the law in places as well. That being the case, and given the particularly prickly and fallacious subject heading, I thought I might set the record straight. I think it is also time to challenge Hal to a debate so he will either put up or shut up.
Last year, I reported on the “best mode” Patent-Raptor of 35 U.S.C. § 112, first paragraph, in Ajinomoto Co., Inc. v. International Trade Commission. See Best Mode Patent-Raptor Devours Another Victim in Ajinomoto. I also remarked that, like the Jurassic Park film franchise, we would probably have sequels for this stealthy and certainly ravenous patentivour. How right I was. The latest sequel happened late last month in Wellman, Inc. v. Eastman Chemical Company where the “best mode” Patent-Raptor claimed yet another victim.
The victim (or actually victims) in Wellman were U.S. Pat. No. 7,094,863 (the ‘863 patent) and U.S. Pat. No. 7,129,317 (the ‘317 patent) which were collectively referred to as the “Wellman patents.” The Wellman patents relate to polyethylene terephthalate (“PET”) resins useful for making plastic beverage containers. More specifically, the Wellman patents described “slow-crystallizing” PET resins the retained clarity in these beverage containers when “hot-filled” with product. By the time the ‘317 patent was filed in May 2004, Wellman had commercialized a slow-crystallizing PET resin known as Ti818, which was not disclosed in the patents in a deliberate attempt to retain a trade secret.
If you are going to go down the path of blogging for profit or for notoriety you need to have a well developed sense of what your market is interested in when you set out to write. Copying others isn’t likely a winning strategy, but identifying what you like, what you can provide and what you want to do are all essential. Then you need to think about the reader. You know the mantra — know your audience. It is certainly helpful to write what interests you because, in my view, that which you are interested in and passionate about makes for great reading, but it is also important to give readers what they want otherwise you won’t build an audience, or you will lose the audience you do have.
I think it is fair to say that the majority of what I write on the pages of IPWatchdog.com is op-ed journalism, but that is certainly not all I write. In my time writing op-ed articles, which dates back to 2004 when I started writing for Patent World, I believe I have found a formula that works. My formula may not work for you (more on that later), but what I try and do when I write an op-ed article is to not only convey my opinions, but I try and quickly bring the reader up to speed on the factual background of what I am going to comment on, give some analysis and then liberally apply my opinion. Not as if it is salt and/or pepper, but more like marinara sauce, which in my opinion you just can’t get enough of on spaghetti, whether decorated by Meatballs or Chicken Parmesan.
On November 30th, 2010, the Editors of the ABA Journal had announced the selection of the top 100 best law blogs by lawyers, for lawyers. Readers were then given one full month to vote for their favorite blogs. Each individual could vote for more than one blog in any category, but could only vote once per blog. Now the voting has ended and the ABA Journal has announced the winners of the Fourth Annual ABA Journal Blawg 100, which recognizes the best legal blogs for 2010.
We are pleased to announce that our readers voted IPWatchdog.com as the winner in our category making us the Top IP Law blog on the Internet in 2010! We would like to congratulate all of the blogs that made it into the top 100, provide linkbacks to those blogs selected and encourage our readers to check out these top legal blogs. Their accomplishments should not go unnoticed. To our readers, we thank you for your loyalty and support.
It has been an interesting year for us at IPWatchdog.com, from getting sued in January 2010, to exclusive interviews with the likes of Chief Judge Randall Rader, Chief Judge Paul Michel, Former U.S. Senator Birch Bayh, USPTO Director David Kappos and former USPTO Directors Todd Dickinson and Nick Godici and others, we have stayed busy. We have put more emphasis this year 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 that I so love to write has also been a mainstay.
The big news for us is just coming in as of today. I am pleased to announce that IPWatchdog.com was selected by the readers of the ABA Journal as their favorite IP Law blog for 2010. See ABA Journal Blawg 100 IP Law category for 2010. I am also pleased to announce that for 2010 we had over 2,000,000 visits, delivered nearly 11.8 million pages, our homepage was viewed 3.06 million times and we averaged over 67,000 unique monthly visitors! Thanks to all our readers for coming back day after day, and thanks to all of our Guest Contributors!
How to Write a Patent Application is a must own for patent attorneys, patent agents and law students alike. A crucial hands-on resource that walks you through every aspect of preparing and filing a patent application, from working with an inventor to patent searches, preparing the patent application, drafting claims and more. The treatise is continuously updated to address relevant Federal Circuit and Supreme Court decision impacting patent drafting.
Typically blog roll links are not helpful to a website's rank. To give some additional "link love" to those we think you might be interested in reading we have moved our blog roll and links to a dedicated page. Go to IPWatchdog Blog Roll & Links.
On May 9, 2013, IPWatchdog’s very own Gene Quinn will be attending and presenting at the Business Development Institute’s Social Media Marketing Summit for Law Firms in NY. When they first reached out to IPWatchdog to ask Gene to present at this event, I offered to speak as the Social Media Diva, but given that the program specifically targets Law Firms, they declined my offer expressing their desire to have an attorney who not only knows and understand the importance of social media but one who also utilizes social media on a regular basis as part of the work he does each day! So Gene is definitely their guy!
I am pleased to announce that in January 2013 we had our biggest month ever in terms of traffic to IPWatchdog.com. During the last Quarter of 2012 we averaged 89,260 unique visitors per month. In January 2013 we had 101,922 unique visitors, which represents growth of 14.2%.
It was another busy year at IPWatchdog.com, and I want to thank all of our readers and guest contributors for making this year very special.
It was another exciting year for us here at IPWatchdog, and before anything else we want to thank all of our readers for continuing to make us one of the top intellectual property blogs.
It is New Years Eve, which means it is time to take stock by looking back at the past year, remembering, learning and becoming energized with ideas, thoughts and plans for the next year.
IPWatchdog.com has once again been selected by the Journal of the American Bar Association as one of the top 100 legal blogs. The 
As you may have seen, IPWatchdog.com has been named to the 
You may have noticed that there is a new addition to IPWatchdog’s extensive arsenal of information available to IP professionals, employees and employers alike. This week 
Last year, I reported on the “best mode” Patent-Raptor of 35 U.S.C. § 112, first paragraph, in Ajinomoto Co., Inc. v. International Trade Commission. See 
If you are going to go down the path of blogging for profit or for notoriety you need to have a well developed sense of what your market is interested in when you set out to write. Copying others isn’t likely a winning strategy, but identifying what you like, what you can provide and what you want to do are all essential. Then you need to think about the reader. You know the mantra — know your audience. It is certainly helpful to write what interests you because, in my view, that which you are interested in and passionate about makes for great reading, but it is also important to give readers what they want otherwise you won’t build an audience, or you will lose the audience you do have.
On November 30th, 2010, the Editors of the ABA Journal had announced the selection of the top 100 best law blogs by lawyers, for lawyers. Readers were then given one full month to vote for their favorite blogs. Each individual could vote for more than one blog in any category, but could only vote once per blog. Now the voting has ended and the ABA Journal has announced the winners of the Fourth Annual ABA Journal Blawg 100, which recognizes the best legal blogs for 2010.
