Patent Baristas

According to the Center for Public Integrity, Big Pharma has certainly benefited from the more than $800 million spent since 1998 on lobbyists and political campaigns. Not exactly chump-change. While industry trade group, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) claims the money helped patients, they hired a former U.S. ambassador to Canada and his […]

There has been a lot of reporting of allegations of misconduct by U.S. researchers. The Department of Health and Human Services received 274 complaints — 50 percent higher than 2003 and the most since 1989 when the federal government established a program to deal with scientific misconduct. The federal Office of Research Integrity closed only […]

Brazil has threatened to break a patent for Kaletra, one of three anti-retrovirals made by Abbott Laboratories Inc. Brazil said the price of Abbott’s combination Lopinavir and Ritonavir pill is so high it created a public health threat. Brazil is encouraging other countries to use the World Trade Organization‘s rules on patents to challenge pharmaceutical […]

Shares of Vicuron Pharmaceuticals increased 79% to an all-time high of $28.21 Thursday after Pfizer agreed to buy the biotechnology company for $1.9 billion, or $29.10 a share in cash (an price 84% premium with a market capitalization of about $1 billion). The trend in Big Pharma seems to be one of buying biotech companies […]

Seth Godin, listed as an author, entrepreneur and agent of change, recently published his thoughts that Small is the New Big. He argues that while big used to matter, small is now where it’s at. [Disclaimer alert: I work for a law firm with 370+ attorneys spread over seven offices] In weaving together a conclusion […]

Maybe we’re on to something with coffee and legal work. The Editor of the Blawg Review suggested we trademark Patent Baristas and set up a new shop after seeing this posting on George Lenard’s Employment Blawg (photo by Fifi LePew/Marcia Cirillo via flickr) We won’t ask why he was looking for “law & coffee” but […]

It appears that the Commonwealth of Kentucky has it out for blogs. As detailed by Ben Cowgill on his Legal Ethics Blog, the Kentucky Attorney’s Advertising Commission has taken the position that a weblog is an advertisement. This is the result of Rule 7.02 of the Kentucky Code, which states: 7.02 “advertise or “advertisement” means […]

Bill Heinze of I/P Updates recently posted a note about “A Step-By-Step Guide To Getting a Patent,” which ran in the Wall Street Journal’s Startup Journal. The article quotes a U.S. Patent Office spokeswoman as saying that 63% to 65% of applications are eventually allowed as patents, but then displays the following “reality check:” I […]