From "Wealth of Ideas" e-newsletter, January 2004

If you follow patent news, you may have noticed a trend towards massive infringement settlements. Our economy, now heavily dependent on knowledge-based industries such as software, telecommunications, biotechnology, and pharmaceuticals, has shifted the management of intellectual property center-stage. Consider the following list of damages awards in recent patent infringement lawsuits:

• $25M to St. Clair in a lawsuit against Sony
• $35M to MercExchange in a suit against eBay
• $60M to technology company SPX in a suit against Microsoft
• $60M to Intel in a suit against Broadcom
• $300M to Intergraph in a suit against Intel
• $521M to Eolas & the University of California in a suit against Microsoft

These types of awards underscore just how much is at stake. A single patent, infringed, can mean the difference of millions of dollars lost or won in litigation – and even more in terms of long-term revenue and profit.

The management of intellectual property, once an arcane activity, can now make or break a company. The speed of innovation, globalization, and controversy within the patent establishment itself might indicate that it’s time to place your intellectual properties in the hands of experienced specialists.