Cairns Blog

P2P: The Movie

Produced by IBM, this short movie with interviews with Chief Intellectual Property and Patent Counsel from IBM, GE, HP and others explains the Peer-to-Patent process, how it works and why an inventor will want to participate.  Check it out on YouTube here. 

Japan Announces Launch of Peer to Patent

IBM Japan, Ltd., Fujitsu Ltd., and other major IT companies plan to utilize outside specialists’ expertise for patent registration.  These companies will use a new patent examination system initiated by the Japan Patent Office (JPO) in June on a trial basis to have researchers and other experts who are knowledgeable about cutting-edge technology check whether their own inventions are suitable for patent registration.  The aim is to reduce the risk of patents becoming invalid because prior literature or other evidence is discovered after they are registered.
       

The new system adopted by the JPO is called “Community Patent Review.”  It covers disclosed patent applications chosen by IBM Japan or other companies after 18 months have passed since they were filed.  The JPO will recruit several hundred participants, including university researchers, to have them express their opinions about the trends for the latest papers presented at overseas academic conferences, the existence or absence of prior literature, and other issues, and it will make use of those opinions for patent examinations.

Ricoh Co., Ltd. also plans to use the new system.  Users of the new system can reduce the risk of another company claiming that a patent that has been obtained is invalid, and they may also be able to carry out licensing negotiations that are favorable to them.  This year dozens of patent applications centered on IT-related software and network technologies are expected to undergo examinations.

Currently, JPO examiners use databases to closely investigate prior cases Japan and overseas, such as existing patents and academic papers, and examine the novelty of patent applications.  However, as an official of the JPO’s examination policy planning section noted, the examiners “cannot fully investigate academic papers and manuals that are not included in databases.”  In 2006, there were 194 patents that became invalid because they were found to lack novelty.

The JPO will compile the results on the new system by the end of this year.  If it considers the new system to be effective, the JPO will call on more businesses to use it in the next fiscal year and thereafter.

The Future of JZ: Unstoppable

Stanford Law School, EFF and Creative Commons hosted grand and glam book (slash recruit JZ for Stanford Law School) party at the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco.  The book was for sale but the edible cookie replicas were free!  As usual, Jonathan gave a fabulous talk to the several hundred  technorati and fleece-o-nistas from the Bay Area and a good time was had by all!

RunTime Revolution Donates Software to New York Law School

by Bill Marriott

Famous lawyers from both fiction and reality have always relied on a variety of tools to persuade judge and jury: surprise witnesses; dramatic closing arguments; reenactments of the crime scene.

But first and foremost, a good lawyer must be a master of logic. So it might not be such a surprise that a group of law school students have embraced Revolution Studio as yet another tool in their arsenal that helps them learn technology, teach law, and win cases.

Revolution’s popularity endures because it is the one programming system that enables content experts to focus attention on their areas of expertise, without the distractions of mastering the arcane syntax and byzantine rules of other languages. With Revolution’s natural language, anyone can break a complex problem into smaller pieces and arrive at a solution using logic that mirrors the way the human mind works.

In this way, Revolution reinforces the core analytical skills needed to be successful with large, complicated litigation.

Although New York Law School in Manhattan is one of the oldest independent law schools in the United States, it’s also one of the most innovative. Students use Revolution not just to sharpen their minds, but also to get things done. Recently, NYLS students have used Revolution to:

• Create compelling presentations that serve as demonstrative evidence at trial
• Model how organizations can make decisions more effectively
• Establish a pilot program for collaborative patent examination at the United States Trademark and Patent Office
• Educate students about the impact of technology on the legal system

"Without any training, the Runtime Revolution environment permitted our research team to quickly develop working prototypes of (i) interactive analytical flowcharts, (ii) statutory compliance tools and (iii) collaborative project management utilities for distributed environments.” -- Nick Nicolakis

And the list of potential applications of Revolution just gets longer as students and educators are inspired by the possibilities presented by the language.

“Faculty and students already have experience with using Revolution Studio to build interactive learning software, interactive diagrams that illustrate legal doctrines or explain statutory provisions, client counseling simulations, graphical courtroom demonstrations, and software kiosks to help pro se litigants,” said David Johnson, a Professor at the NYLS Institute for Information Law and Policy.

Because of the creativity with which NYLS has applied Revolution to so many aspects of everyday coursework, and the importance of educating future lawyers, lawmakers, and judges about technology issues, Runtime Revolution has gifted a copy of Revolution Studio to each faculty member, staff, and student of the school.

“Good software code, like good legal code, is precise and understandable to everyone,” said Kevin Miller, Runtime Revolution CEO. “We want everyone at NYLS to benefit from our unique language and its ability to create courseware and legal simulations.”

Miller added, “With Revolution, you have the ability to express complex algorithms and implement analysis strategies not possible with databases or spreadsheets.”

A legal compliance tool developed at NYLS, considered by the team as a "clickable statute," implements the "CAN SPAM" Act of 2004 as software code.. in a way that unambiguously determines whether an email passes muster with federal regulations.

Rick Matasar, NYLS Dean, expressed his appreciation of the gift and discussed the impact it will have on the quality of the school’s curriculum.  “Increasingly, lawyers use technology in every area of practice.  Familiarity with the basics is essential for the well-trained lawyer and for the law student who wants a “leg up” in the marketplace.  Lawyers practicing in fields that relate to technology directly, such as intellectual property, must understand how computer systems work. Every lawyer, whether doing transactional work (e.g., using software to generate deal documents) or litigation (with its increasing use of electronic discovery) needs to be able to evaluate technology tools used in practice.  We live in a world in which rights and obligations are importantly influenced by computer systems – so lawyers must understand not only legal code but also software code.”

Carrot Mobbing

Brent Schulkin in San Francisco has launched the first "Carrot Mob."  What's a Carrot Mob?  Well, it's a way to use the "carrot" of consumer buying power to encourage small businesses to help the environment.  The idea is to use web-based tools to organize a consumer flashmob that channels business to stores that commit to environmental improvements.

Here's the catchy video of the first Carrot Mob "Make It Rain" campaign in San Francisco's Mission District last month.  In short, the Carrot Mobbers asked local businesses how much they would be willing to invest in environmental improvements if the group were to organize a buying spree directed at that business.  The result for the winning bodega?  More than triple the sales of an average Saturday, lots of free advertising, oodles of community goodwill and a scheme to pay for improvements that, in turn, save the business money over the long run.

It's a great example of use of new media technologies to convene and organize a group of people that, working together, is more powerful at bringing about social change than any individual acting alone.  It takes the traditional boycott model and turns it on its head (a girlcott?) to create incentives for good  rather than an injunction against bad action.  It's a collaboration between the business and the consumer to everyone's benefit.  The video is really useful for creating a sense of that group and community and allowing people to feel themselves to have been part of something.  And, it demonstrates that civic activism can be fun!