In December of 2012 Article One Partners announced that they would be launching an educational contest series geared towards military veterans with an interest in research, science and technology. The program, known as the Article One Partners Veterans Program or AOP-Vets for short will consist of three main pillars; an educational curriculum on patent research, a series of career guidance sessions from intellectual property executives, and an “exciting Grand Challenge” with the opportunity to win rewards for success on the research platform.  In fact, at the end of the program, which is set to begin on April 8, 2013 and will run through May 17, of 2013, the best-performing participant of the program will receive a $5,000 reward.

Given that I come from a family of military men, and came so close to signing up for the military myself, I hold the topic of veterans near and dear to my heart.  In fact when I heard about this program I was thrilled because I know that many veterans have been affected by this recession are out of work themselves.  I know a few veterans in particular who could benefit from a program such as this and feel that programs like this are the very least we should give veterans in return for the sacrifices they and their families make for our country.  But the best part about this program is that it affords veterans who wish to participate the opportunity to become trained in the area of intellectual property that should ultimately lead to additional career opportunities that otherwise they would not have qualified for.

Job #9 ~ Mid-Level Patent Litigator (Los Angeles)

This top tier international firm is seeking an experienced and seasoned patent litigator for its Los Angeles office. The ideal candidate will have 2-6 years of Patent Litigation experience in ITC and District Court patent litigation. Preferred background will include an undergraduate degree in engineering, math, computer science or physics, and an advanced degree is a plus. Membership in the Patent Bar is preferred but not required. This firm requires stellar credentials and large firm experience.

Reference Code IPW009

Job #8 – Patent Counsel (Washington DC)

This prominent national firm seeks a highly qualified patent attorney with a Ph.D. in Biology or relevant technical field to join the Washington, D.C. office. The candidate will represent clients and provide legal advice in all aspects of patent law, including acquisition, prosecution, licensing and defense of intellectual property rights. The candidate would be responsible for providing legal advice on patent prosecution, including invention capture, strategic patent portfolio management, and life cycle planning for commercializing technologies; performing due diligence related to evaluating patent portfolios for acquisition, merger, and licensing opportunities; and advising and representing clients in patent licensing opportunities and in legal proceedings regarding patent infringement. The candidate must be a member of or capable of waiving into the D.C. Bar and be registered with the USPTO. Minimum 2 years of technical experience in Biology required.

Job #7 – Mid-level Patent Prosecution Associate
Location: Silicon Valley

Reference Code: IPW007

This Silicon Valley stalwart is expanding its operation and is seeking patent prosecution associates to join their industry leading team. Ideal candidate will have two to four years of patent prosecution experience. Candidates should have an electrical engineering, computer science, or physics background or equivalent experience. Patent Bar eligible. Superior academic credentials, excellent oral, written and interpersonal skills a must.

Job #6 - Midlevel Patent Prosecution Associate (Chemistry) – Washington DC

This prominent international firm seeks a mid-level IP associate attorney with a Ph.D. in Chemistry (organic or medicinal chemistry preferred) for its Intellectual Property practice group in the Washington, D.C. office.  A minimum of two years of experience in patent prosecution is required, with a focus on patent prosecution for domestic and international clients on technological developments in molecular biology, pharmaceuticals, bioinformatics, pharmaceutical small molecules, diagnostics, and medical methodologies and devices.  Litigation experience is also valued.  Excellent academic credentials and DC bar membership are required. This firm is known for fostering a terrific working environment, and is considered by many associates as a go-to firm for its culture and reputation.

Job #5 – IP Litigation Partner – San Diego

High end IP boutique firm (headquartered in Washington D.C.) is seeking self-sustaining partners to help grow the firm’s San Diego office. The firm is seeking seasoned IP Litigators with some portable business. In operation for over 60 years, exclusively in the sphere of Intellectual Property, the firm offers a dynamic opportunity for growth and development.

Position Reference Code – IPW005

Earlier this week, Gene announced that we have teamed up with a recruiting agency that focuses on Intellectual Property placements across the US. In an effort to help bring IP professionals together with the employers who are looking to hire them, I will be working with Angela Kopolovich of Alegna International to help match potential IP Professionals with new opportunities that are right for them.  Initially we posted three jobs together to give you an idea of the types of positions we are looking to fill.  Moving forward I will be posting 1-3 jobs per post.  We encourage our readers to share these posts with anyone they feel would be a good fit for any of the positions we post.  All submissions will be kept confidential.

 

Job # 4 ~ Junior IP Litigator – New York  [Reference Code IPW004]

Large global firm with a full service platform, and a respected IP department, is seeking an intellectual property & technology associate for their New York office. The ideal candidate will have 1-3 years of patent litigation experience.  Candidates must have an electrical engineering, chemical, or chemical engineering background. A license to practice law in New York is preferred but not required.

As most of you know, IPWatchdog added the JobOrtunities job board to its repertoire several months ago.  In that time, we have brought you information on some terrific opportunities in the IP arena. Given the continued demand for IP professionals, attorneys, agents, technical specialists, and the large number of people looking for new or better opportunities, we thought we’d step it up a bit and really get involved in helping our readers find new homes (professionally speaking, of course).

We are very pleased to announce that IPWatchdog’s very own Renee Quinn has teamed up with Alegna International, a recruiting agency that focuses on Intellectual Property placements, to help bring IP professionals together with the employers who are looking to hire them.  Now, in addition to the firms that choose to utilize the JobOrtunities job board to advertise their open positions, we will be bringing you up to the minute information on both listed and unlisted positions that are available in the IP space so that you can both monitor market demand, and submit your resume for a position, if you’re interested.

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.

Over recent years, online advertising has been a driving force in the growth of the Internet. As business owners, you never stop hearing about the benefits of having your own website and advertising your services on-line.  I am guilty of preaching this sermon myself!  However, because of the ever-increasing existence of badware, it has become increasingly difficult to know what ads or websites we can trust.  Thankfully, tech giants such as Google, Twitter, Facebook, PayPal and others have joined forces with StopBadware.org and formed the Ads Integrity Alliance (AIA) in order to combat Badware, protect users from bad ads and maintain the integrity of the “online advertising ecosystem.”

StopBadware.org is a non-profit organization that is focused solely on protecting the public from badware websites.  The organization started out as a project of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University but has grown significantly to include partners such as Google, Mozilla, Verizon, PayPal, Qualys, and VeriSign.   The StopBadware Board of Directors consists of many of the biggest names within the Online industry such as Chief Information Security Officer at PayPal, Michael Barrett, (Currently the Chair of the Board), the Vice-President and Chief Internet evangelist for Google, Vinton, G. Cerf, Engineering Director for Google, Mike Shaver, Chairman and CEO of Qualys, Inc., Philippe Courtot to name a few.

Social Media is not a fad.  It is not something that is going to go away nor is it going to be replaced by something bigger and better.  Most businesses have embraced social media and all that it has to offer.  Perhaps you, yourself have taken a ride on the social media bandwagon.  But, even if you have a well-established social media presence, are you really getting the most out of your online relationships?  Are you missing opportunities to truly leverage your business relationships online in order to reap bigger rewards and sales in the real world?  Following are 5 easy ways that you can take to utilize your online business and real-world relationships to increase your overall social media ROI.

1.  Give and Receive On-Line Introductions

Don’t just wait for others to approach you through social media. Until you have established your online brand, telling others who you are, what you do and what you have to offer, you cannot expect others to find you.  You are always your own best advertiser.  You need to reach out to everyone you know and want to know to get the word out. With social media, as well as in the real world, you do not necessarily have to approach people blindly.  Rather start utilizing the business relationships you have developed both off line and on over the years to meet those you would potentially like to work with.

As you most likely already know, Google has made it a tradition to create fun Google logo’s (or Doodles) to celebrate specific holidays, anniversaries and the lives of famous artists, pioneers and scientists.   You may recall that on Saturday May 22, 2010, in celebration of Pacman’s 30^th Anniversary, Google featured its very first interactive doodle in the form of a Pacman game you could actually play.  You can read more about it in my article Pacman Celebrates its 30^th Anniversary – Google Style.  Yesterday Google featured another interactive doodle that they called the “Goog” this time in celebration of Dr. Robert Moog’s (rhymes with “vogue”) 78th birthday.  Moog was an American pioneer of music who invented the electronic analog Moog Synthesizer.  If you missed it, that’s OK, you can still play the fully interactive “Goog” Doodle through the Google Doodle Library.

Today I attended the an event on Intellectual Property and the US Economy which was held in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House grounds. The purpose of the event was to unveil a study — Intellectual Property and the U.S. Economy: Industries in Focus— prepared by the Economics and Statistics Administration and the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The study found that intellectual property intensive industries support at least 40 million jobs in the United States and contribute more than $5 trillion dollars to U.S. gross domestic product (GDP).  That is to say that 27.7% of all jobs in the U.S. were either directly or indirectly attributable to IP-intensive industries, and the amount contributed to the U.S. economy represents a staggering  34.8% of GDP.

“This first of its kind report shows that IP- intensive industries have a direct and significant impact on our nation’s economy and the creation of American jobs,” said Commerce Secretary John Bryson. “When Americans know that their ideas will be protected, they have greater incentive to pursue advances and technologies that help keep us competitive, and our businesses have the confidence they need to hire more workers. That is why this Administration’s efforts to protect intellectual property, and modernize the patent and trademark system are so crucial to a 21st century economy that is built to last.”

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL BE KIND TO LAWYERS DAY!  (Previously known as National Be Kind To Lawyer’s Day!!) Have you not heard of it?  Have you not read my article on this Special Celebration from years past?  If your answer to these questions is NO, then you, my friend, are missing out (especially if you are a lawyer)!

So, what is this International Be Kind To Lawyers Day?  I am so glad you asked!  Steve Hughes, a non-lawyer from St. Louis, has been working with attorneys for many years now through his consulting firm Hit Your Stride, LLC. Whenever Steve merely mentions that he works with lawyers, he is more often than not met with snide comments, jokes and scowls.  He hears things like, “Lawyers?  I bet that’s a treat.”  Or, “Lawyers?  You poor thing.”  So he asked himself, “Is it too much to ask to be nice to lawyers for just one day?”  And in answer to his question, not to mention as a result of his playing defense counsel for an entire profession, the idea for National Be Kind To Lawyers Day was born. 

On Sunday March 25 and Monday March 26, 2012, I attended the Second Annual Women’s Entrepreneurship Symposium (WES) in Shreveport, LA.  The event was hosted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in Honor of Women’s History Month and was put together in collaboration with U.S. Senator Mary L. Landrieu (D-LA) and the city of Shreveport, Louisiana.  WES was held at the Shreveport Convention Center and focused primarily on women entrepreneurs, innovation and the importance of intellectual property to business.  I was honored to accept an invitation to present at this year’s event on social media and the importance of developing and leveraging online business relationships.

The program featured Senator Landrieu, who is chair of the Senate’s Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship as the symposium’s keynote speaker as well as the Mayor of Shreveport, Mayor Cedric B Glover who gave the welcoming remarks on day 1 of the event. The program additionally included the Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Deputy Director of the USPTO Teresa (Terry) Stanek Rea, Director of Inventor Education, Outreach and Recognition (USPTO) Elizabeth Dougherty, Director of Research and Policy at the National Women’s Business Council (NWBC) Julia Kurnik as well as successful entrepreneurs and other experts in the field of intellectual property law and small business.