IP Strategy, Technology Transfer, and Commercialization

Last week I attended the ACCT Innovation Partnerships conference, which was focused on The Changing Landscape of Partnerships and Commercialization.  I spoke on both Tech Transfer Commercialization and IP Strategy for IT based inventions. For those interested my slides are posted below:

Stakeholders’ Perspectives on the Changing Landscape of Technology Commercialization

As North America recovers from the 2008 recession, emerging trends in technology commercialization include significant changes in the ways that research institutions,companies, and services providers engage, interact and collaborate. Large corporations from across many industry sectors have significantly downsized their internal research activities while increasing their focus on acquiring IP from external sources and financially supporting selected institutional research programs. Research institutions are moving away from their traditional approaches to protecting and disclosing innovations and industry engagement. Non-practicing entities (formerly referred to as “patent trolls”) have emerged as significant players in the acquisition and deployment of commercially useful intellectual property. The role of service providers to both sectors are evolving from only the protection of IP, to include counsel for strategic IP deployment, acquisition, and divestments.

The Case for Protecting I.T.: When it Makes Good Business Sense

In recent years, the focus of courts on patentable subject matter has generally been in the biotech area – Mayo and Prometheus come to mind. However, protecting information technology has also become a veritable minefield, with courts in both Canada and the United States struggling to define what is patentable subject matter in the IT field. This seminar will address the difficult task of how best to claim, prosecute and manage IT patents throughout their life cycle.

Many thanks to the ACCT, the speakers, and my c0-panel members on both discussions.