The Blawg Review Editor sent me a tip about Light Cafés in Stockholm, which now offer Swedes the chance to take in a little sun with their morning coffee. Since Stockholm only receives five hours of light a day in winter, patrons at the Iglo Ljuscafé sip their morning brew while soaking in artificial sun from special lights - after taking off their shoes and slipping into white robes provided at the door, or course

The sun-deprived can spend an hour “ljusing” (literally “brightening” in English) at the café. Breakfast and an hour of light treatment will run you 160 Swedish Krona or about $24 U.S. I can't make it to Sweden this year (although I wish I could pick up a new XC70) so I got the funky, blue light emitting diode (LED) golite to counteract the effects of spending all my time in a north-facing office. Even Eastman Kodak is getting into the act.

Not sure if it works. I still want to through my co-workers out the window. Maybe I'll try stronger coffee.

I received a note about a new patent auction site, FreePatentAuction. There's something very democratic and marketplace efficient in such systems but patent auctions are the kind of thing that fuel a lot of angst in the patent community. Critics worry that this will only appeal to potential plaintiffs (read: patent trolls) or to companies that want to take technologies off of the market. Even supporters doubt that they can easily bring the rights buyers and sellers together since each patent or portfolio is, by definition, quite unique. These are also hampered by the fact that it is extremely difficult to value such assets given their lack of liquidity.

FreePatentAuction caught my eye because, as it states on its site, "It's Free: we do not charge you or anybody else for the service. FreePatentAuction is not a commercial venture." Well, I like free but I wonder how they are going to stay in business. This reminds me a little of the First Citiwide Change Bank, which specializes in making change:

Bank Representative: All the time, our customers ask us, "How do you make money doing this?" The answer is simple: Volume. That's what we do.

In looking around the FreePatentAuction site, you see that the technologies are quite diverse. Some seem reasonable like the utility patent on snap-together socks offered at $29,000 (see U.S. Pat. No. 6,185,751). I think this would be good for my kids in putting their socks together but I wonder if the novelty would wear off quickly.

But other patents are not so grounded in reality, like one offer for a design patent (note, not only is this not a utility patent, it is only patent pending). This design is for a picture frame described as "pictures are arranged consecutively; in a loop" and the "unit displays up to 11 pictures that rotate via a series of internal rollers; pictures moves to each position along rail slots or pulleys." And the best part is that this can all be yours for a mere $10,000,000. OK.

On the upside, FreePatentAuction.com is easy to use, nonexclusive and free to both sellers and buyers. In fact, the site doesn't even have a mechanism for knowing is a sale has transpired. So, I guess there is little harm in using the service. At the very least, the site may provide your invention with some extra exposure needed to attract investors. I have to believe, though, that the value will only come with some better ability to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Other patent auction sites have shown some success. The Ocean Tomo patent consulting firm plans to hold auctions twice a year. At the last auction, 26 of the 78 patent portfolios put up for sale were sold off to buyers. The total amount was a little more than $3 million, and many of the patent portfolios sold for around $11,000. Bidding on 52 of the lots offered failed to meet the seller's minimum and were withdrawn. However, five additional lots of patents sold after the auction for $5.4 million. They charge a set fee ranging from $1,000 per single patent listing without reserve to $6,000 per patent pool listing with reserve.

Note: If you've used these or any other patent auction service, please email us and let us know your opinions so we can report back on your stories.

The open source movement, called the Biological Innovation for an Open Society (BIOS), was initiative by molecular geneticist Dr. Richard Jefferson, founder and CEO of the CAMBIA (Centre for the Application of Molecular Biology to International Agriculture) in Canberra. BIOS is an attempt to establish an open-source technology movement in the biotechnology industry, similar to the computing industry's open-source software movement.

BIOS provides biotechnology with its own free 'operating system': a public-domain toolkit and associated patents, aimed at freeing researchers worldwide to innovate without restriction, and without being forced into partnerships or unfavorable royalty agreements. They have developed a core toolkit of patented techniques that will expand into a protected 'commons', protected by licenses and other contracts, as biotechnology researchers and agencies around the world contribute new ideas and refinements..

Now, CAMBIA and BIOS have announced the creation of an open-access patent database collating IP data from several national patent offices called CAMBIA Patent Lens. The patent informatics and analysis component of the BiOS Initiative aims to assist in navigation of the intellectual property landscape, particularly within the life sciences, by making it more transparent.

From Patent Lens:

Why are we doing this?

The patent system was created to advance societal benefit by encouraging public disclosure of inventions and clear definition of each invention, in exchange for a strictly limited monopoly. The invention may be used wherever the patent monopoly is not in force (for example when it has expired or where it was not granted, or in technology to which the patent claims do not extend). Patent informatics tools can assist the user to determine the boundaries of intellectual property constraints on deliverable innovations, and usable building blocks for future innovations.

What can be searched?

The Patent Lens resource comprises a fully text-searchable patents database, containing over 5,500,000 patents and patent applications from the PCT, US, and EPO databases. We have the life sciences collections from these jurisdictions and have recently added all patent classifications from the US applications and granted patents. We will be expanding to all classifications in the EPO and PCT collections within the next few months.

We receive regular updates of additional patents and patent applications by subscriptions from national patent offices and WIPO. We would like to include patents and patent applications from additional classifications and jurisdictions. If your jurisdiction of interest is not included, you may want to contact the patent office in that jurisdiction to suggest the information be provided to the Patent Lens.

The CAMBIA-BiOS patent search resource also includes a user interface to search INPADOC patent family information provided by the national patent offices of over 70 countries, as well as status information provided by many of these countries. Once you have searched the patent and patent application database and identified patents of interest, a link on the search results page will allow you to obtain status information, if any is available, for the patent documents related to those you select. Although the INPADOC information that patent offices provide is not always up to date and complete, this can help to give an idea whether a patent application related to one of interest was filed in other countries, and possibly whether patents are in force or applications are still pending. Further information on a patent or patent application in a particular country of interest (which may have different claims pending or allowed than the parent application, depending on that country's laws) may then be obtainable from that country's patent office.

See more here.

The Baristas are now offering a cool new subscription service from FeedBlitz. Just add your e-mail address in the subscription box below or on the right sidebar to receive the latest freshly brewed patent chat served up daily.

FeedBlitz enables users to get RSS content delivered directly to their email in-box. You get our content without having to remember to check our site daily -- and with no annoying ads!. Just our chat content, delivered daily, in an easy to read Email (text or HTML format - your choice).

More info on FeedBlitz subscriber services here.

Like me, I'm sure you are overwhelmed with too many email messages. In a large law firm, we get urgent, breaking-news kind of emails daily like "Does anyone know a good lawyer experienced in riparian rights in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania?" or "Does anyone have the Pensky file in their office?" So, I'm use to deleting lots of messages that I wish I had never received and always look for good email usage tips to pass along.

Now, from 43Folders, Merlin Mann's blog about personal productivity, I found some added tips on writing sensible email messages that I'll try to incorporate into my own writing.

Merlin writes, first: Understand why you're writing. Before you type anything into a new message, have explicit answers for two questions:

Why am I writing this?

What exactly do I want the result of this message to be?

If you can't succinctly state these answers, you might want to hold off on sending your message until you can. One commenter says you have to write like your recipient has a severe attention-deficit disorder.

Second, write a great Subject line. You can make it even easier for your recipient to immediately understand why you've sent them an email and to quickly determine what kind of response or action it requires. Merlin recommends that you avoid "Hi," "One more thing...," or "FYI," in favor of typing a short summary of the most important points in the message:

In fact, consider using just the subject line to relate your message and identify it as such by adding (EOM)—for end of message—at the end of the Subject line. This lets recipients see that the whole message is right there in the subject without clicking to the view the (non-existent) body.

Acronyms that may be useful shorthand in subjects:

1. EOM End Of Message;
2. RR Response required;
3. AR Action Required;
4. ATTACH Contains attachment;
5. PERS Personal;
6. CONT Continued;
7. 411 For Information Only;
8. MSR Monthly Status Report;
9. MEET Meeting; and
10. MINUTES Message contains minutes of meeting.

Finally, make use of the different fields for TO|CC|BCC. Those in the TO field are required to do something (Action) and those in the CC field should NOT do anything (if needed, under separate cover). For an FYI, as no reply is required, all can go in the cc: field. And to avoid reply-to-all brawls, put all recipients in the BCC field.

Taro Yaguchi, one of our associates and a Registered Patent Attorney in Japan at Omori & Yaguchi (But with an office in Philadelphia, PA. Read: they're open during Eastern Standard Time), sent me a notice that his firm now offers an on-line fee calculator.

The calculator gives a comprehensive cost estimate for the PCT Japanese national phase entry and filing a Japanese trademark application. One of the new features is that you will find cost estimates for your case based on the three-step flow of the Japanese national phase entry system. Along with the calculation results, tips on how to reduce the costs at the time of the Japanese national phase entry are also available. It is particularly helpful for estimating the national entry of biotech applications with sequence listings. We recommend that you try it out.

To find a cost estimate for PCT Japanese national phase entry and Japanese trademark applications, go to the Calculator here.

The TechnoLawyer Blog's Eighth Annual TechnoLawyer @ Awards where announced for best products, services, and Web sites in a variety of categories.

While the Patent Baristas didn't win as Best Coffee-Themed, Bio-Pharma Patent Law Blog, our congrats go out to Dennis Crouch's Patently-O: Patent Law Blog for Favorite Practice Area Blog (definitely one of our favorites). Finalists included the terrific beSpacific by Sabrina Pacifici and Broc Romanek’s corporate & securities law blog, The CorporateCounsel.net blog (and yes, we always seem to forget the "the" in the URL).

See the whole enchilada here.

The TechnoLawyer Blog, an amalgam of pithy commentary, industry news, and other helpful information compiled by Neil Squillante and Sara Skiff, is sponsoring the Eighth Annual TechnoLawyer @ Awards where TechnoLawyer members vote for their favorite products, services, and Web sites in a variety of categories.

Yes, the Patent Baristas are simply far too modest to ask for your votes but we'll understand if you feel compelled to vote for us as best practice area blog, especially for Best Coffee-Themed, Bio-Pharma Blog.

Voting began May 16, 2005 and ends on Friday, June 10, 2005 at midnight eastern time. If you're not yet a TechnoLawyer member, you have until June 10th at midnight eastern time to join and cast your votes. You can find out more about this year's awards and voting opportunities on the Official Awards Page.

Also on TechnoLawyer, don't miss one of the (many) side-projects of blogger Stephen Nipper: IP Memes, a biweekly newsletter that explores emerging technology-related intellectual property issues.

Groklaw, which advertises itself as "When you want to know more but don't know where to look" has put together an exhaustive list of links in a Patent Resource Page. Frankly, I was starting to get carpal tunnel syndrome just scrolling through the list.

While heavy on software patent and Open Source issues, it is worth noting for those in virtually any field. Check out their great resources for info on patents, patent law, international aspects and even resources regarding patent busting and submarine patent issues.

I've been trying out the free service from IPNewsFlash.com that allows you to search for patent families.  You can run a search and get a complete list of its legal status based on INPADOC data.  You just need to enter a valid publication number such as WO03054153, AU775606, US6335169 or DE10196055T and press the "Search"-button.  Of the half-dozen times I've used it, it has popped up with all the info I needed on the family tree.

Try it out at: http://www.ipnewsflash.com/family.php

I just tried out FreshPatents.Com, a patent keyword monitoring offered as a free service. You can monitor just your niche, for example, under the category "Drug, bio-affecting and body treating compositions" with recently published patent applications available by RSS feed and e-mail. The listing format includes USPTO National Class full category number, link to abstract/description, and title of the patent application. You have to register to get set up but it offers a good way to monitor certain classifications. There is even a patent highlights feed.

Cool feature:  Click on the button at the type labeled "Agents" and you can see all the applications that published by law firm name.