In This Issue LES Spring Meeting: President's Message: CLP Design Team Seeks Your Input New Alliances Lead To Breakthrough Webinars Sector Spotlight High Technology Sector: Biomedical Devices Committee Inaugural Meeting In San Francisco Healthcare Sector: Mass Collaboration In Licensing: Is Wikinomics For You? LES Winter Meeting: LES Local Chapter Julius Vida Honored With Mentor Award Microsoft VP Issues A Call To Arms For New Voices In The IP Reform Debate LES Annual Meeting: |
Microsoft VP Issues A Call To Arms For New Voices In
The IP Reform Debate
Titans took the stage March 14th for the 6th Annual Licensing Foundation Day in Washington, where they spoke frankly about pivotal issues facing the industry during this revolutionary time of change—patent system reform, open innovation and internationalization of patent procedures and protections. In a luncheon address, Microsoft's Vice President and Deputy General Counsel for Intellectual Property (IP), Marshall Phelps delivered a dramatic ‘call to arms' urging the licensing community to make their voices heard in the current reform process. "I urge you all to join the debate," said Phelps. "Around the world you get a lot of people who do not believe essentially that IP should be owned by anyone. But frankly, it's probably the best private incentive program that has ever been developed by mankind and we're at risk of losing it," he said. In addition, Phelps stressed the importance of open innovation in today's marketplace. "In the IT world every customer wants a ‘heterogeneous environment'—meaning that they want to use stuff from different vendors and they want it all to work together," he said. "They don't want to have a battle of the sources in their home or office. You can imagine sitting down with Bill Gates, who has made billions upon billions of dollars as a proprietary company, and saying ‘it's time to change.' It's a tough argument, but you make the argument for the customers," he said. Phelps pointed to the hassles, expense and redundancy of attaining worldwide patents and advocated for harmonization of the system. "I would like to see the U.S. [patent system] become more closely aligned with the rest of the world," he said. The Honorable Gerald Mossinghoff, former assistant secretary of commerce and commissioner of patents and trademarks, now senior counsel with Oblon, Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt, echoed these sentiments in his remarks. Mossinghoff provided a timely and comprehensive look at the current state of patent systems around the world, illustrating the laboriousness and expense that are making filing difficult for large companies and often out of reach for small ones. According to Mossinghoff, the ‘Trilateral offices' (Japanese, European and United States Patent and Trademark Offices) process 80% of the world's patent applications —among these are approximately 210,000 duplicate applications annually. Mossinghoff and Phelps then joined a world-class, multidisciplinary panel, including Brian Barrett, Associate General Counsel for Eli Lilly, Wes Blakeslee, Executive Director of the Johns Hopkins' Office of Technology Transfer and Donald Ware, partner at Foley Hoag LLP, to discuss recent legal decisions and their effects on the overall IP landscape, as well as the prospects for international harmonization of patent protections and related polices. The panelists' candid comments provided valuable insight into industry sector motivations and concerns in today's changing marketplace. To hear audio clips from Licensing Foundation Day speakers, please visit www.licensingfoundation.org.
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