The IP Factor

Earlier this evening, I enjoyed a well structured and informative presentation by Adv. Pat O’ Reilly, President of LES International, who stopped off in Tel Aviv on his way back from Turkey. Adv. O’Reilley, who is presumably of Irish Catholic ancestry, is a partner of Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, and spoke on “Implementing Open Innovation: Research, Collaboration and Pooling Arrangements”.

Apart from great almond croissants, the main thing I came away with an understanding that when negotiating a collaboration deal between two parties, the details of the deal are up to the sides and do not matter so much as the need to forsee and relate to all possible eventualities.  It also transpires that such deals - often between a small start-up on one side and a big company on the other - are often renegotiated as time passes and the product, market share and other issues become clear.

If I need to recommend a US attorney to handle such issues for a local Israel client, I would unhesitatingly recommend Mr O’Reilley.

I knew that I was previously ill-informed regarding such matters, but thought I knew what a closed pool was. After all, I swim in one in the winter. Apparently, the term is used for pooled patent licenses, and raises various anti-trust issues. We were treated to an overview of such issues, and I learned that in the 19th and early twentieth century, various fields like sewing machines, airplane developments and so on, gave rise to patent pools and to government concerns on anti-trust. Apparently this happened with the Davenport folding beds. One wonders why a monopolistic regime in this niche area for a few years bothered anyone.

It was a good opportunity to see familiar faces. I was narked to see that the BlogMeister and IPKAT, Professor Jeremy Phillips has beaten me to it, blogging during the lecture – see Open licensing: the word according to DPat.

I hope that this versatile feline is unable to lecture and blog at the same time, as he is guest of honour at our trademark event on Sunday, which has had to relocate to a bigger venue, no doubt due to the crowds that Jeremy attracts.