Shake It Up!

The American Lawyer

From picking a reform-minded PTO director to unveiling a major antipiracy plan to moving quickly to fill Federal Circuit vacancies, the Obama administration is concocting a heady IP mix.

IP Boutiques: Open for Business

The American Lawyer

Yes, some smaller specialty shops have closed their doors in recent years. But others remain very much alive.

The 25 Most Influential People in IP

The American Lawyer

Who's making the greatest impact on the practice area right now? Interviews with dozens of professionals who work in the field yielded several answers upon which everyone seemed to agree—and a few that just might surprise you.

After Bilski, All Eyes on Life Sciences

The American Lawyer

With the Supreme Court punting on the closely watched case, the question of just what's patentable shifts to a new arena.

These Tunes Aren’t Music to Their Ears

The American Lawyer

It's election season, which means, somewhere, a political candidate is using a song without the songwriter's blessing. Why do these political copyright fights keep happening?

Social Networks and Brand Owners: A Case of Tweet Revenge?

The American Lawyer

Companies are being careful about how their marks mingle on Facebook and Twitter.

Not Just Another Dead IP Boutique

The American Lawyer

How an expensive office lease helped kill New York's venerable Darby & Darby.

There Goes the Judge

The American Lawyer

Paul Michel thinks the nation's patent system needs a friend. After 22 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and its chief judge since 2004, Michel, 69, retired in May to lobby Congress, as a private citizen, to give the PTO the tools he says it needs (more examiners, better technology, higher user fees) and to make the broader case for why patents matter.