NPR Reports: “High Court Ruling Likely To Control Patent Trolls”

Date:  Fri, 2014-05-02

As reported by NPR, “The Supreme Court on Tuesday made it easier for companies to get their legal fees paid when they are unreasonably sued for patent infringement. Patent trolls own patents but don’t make any products.” M·CAM’s Dr. David Martin was interviewed:

“David Martin, a patent law expert, says many companies have faced frivolous suits by so-called patent trolls that own a lot of patents but don’t make anything, yet they settled out of fear that fighting would be too costly. Martin says the court’s decision makes fighting more appealing. Everything that starts putting the onus back on the opportunistic plaintiff is always going to help augur against the frivolous litigation.”

Read the full article: HERE

M·CAM Featured in the UK Intellectual Property Office “Banking on IP” White Paper

Date:  Mon, 2014-03-31

The UK Government is activating policies and programs to acknowledge the value of intangible assets in the banking system. In the links below, read about M·CAM’s work to integrate knowledge, experience and expertise into this initiative.

“Intellectual property matters. Whereas, in the not too distant past, the majority of business investment was in people or physical things like premises and machinery, today the majority of business investment is in intangible goods, in ideas and creativity. Making sure that our entrepreneurs, innovators and creators can translate their investment in the creation of intellectual property assets into value is key to the UK’s long term growth prospects.”

Read the reports:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-knowledge-investment-continues-to-…

http://www.ipo.gov.uk/ipresearch-bankingip-2014.pdf

Jim Hill Joins M·CAM Capital Markets Team

Date:  Tue, 2014-03-25

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – M·CAM Inc. today announces the appointment of Jim Hill, former Senior Vice President at BB&T Capital Markets based in Richmond, Virginia. Mr. Hill joined BB&T after spending 15 years in New York City as a Senior Vice President with Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, then later Credit Suisse First Boston, primarily focused on high net worth individuals and hedge fund managers. Mr. Hill is joining the M·CAM Capital Markets team to expand efforts in product sales, distribution and corporate access to data analytics platforms and specialty investment products.

About M·CAM®

M·CAM® is a global financial institution that advises corporations and investors on corporate finance and asset allocation by underwriting intellectual property (IP) and intangible assets (IA). From its roots in providing financial products enabling lenders to use IP and IA as regulatory acceptable collateral for lending, M·CAM’s capital solutions address the financial needs of businesses and investors in the Knowledge Economy.

M·CAM® has been providing capital markets solutions to financial, sovereign, and corporate institutions since it’s inception in 1998. We work in over 160 countries. In addition to our commercial use across the global equity and debt markets, our platform has placed us as an advisor to help to set regulatory, audit, compliance and risk standards for intangible assets both domestically and internationally.

Dr. David Martin Joins eSurface Technology Advisory Board

Date:  Mon, 2014-02-17

CARLSBAD, California – “eSurface Technology, the developer of the eSurface® manufacturing process for printed circuit boards, today announced it has appointed Dr. David E. Martin to the eSurface Technology Advisory Board effective January 7, 2014. The appointment of Dr. Martin, an international leader in intellectual property-based financial risk management, signals eSurface Technology’s commitment to building a defensible licensing strategy and intellectual property portfolio in the global marketplace.”

The full press release can be found here HERE.

Jimmy Smith, CEO of Amusement Park Entertainment, Honored by Fast Company

Date:  Fri, 2014-01-31

LOS ANGELES, CA – We are pleased to note that Jimmy Smith, CEO of Amusement Park Entertainment and joint venture partner with M·CAM, was chosen by Fast Company as a member of the Most Creative Business People 1000. “The Most Creative People in Business 1000 is an influential, diverse group of modern Renaissance men and women across the economy and around the globe. This is more than just a list: It is a rising community, an explosion of creative inspiration, the spur for so much breaking news across the quickly changing industries that Fast Company covers.”

Patently Obvious® Report on Elekta AB’s Ticking Time”Bomb

Date:  Wed, 2014-01-15

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – M·CAM, Inc. released a Patently Obvious® on Elekta AB.

Is Elekta AB an innovation leader in oncology or an over-inflated minor player in the medical devices industry? Between the quarterly reports and glowing press pieces, it is understandable that Elekta is performing strongly on the OMX Nordic Exchange. There is, however, a serious case to be made that Elekta’s supposed strength is undermined by systemic issues visible in its intellectual property portfolio.

Elekta AB operates in the United States and a number of other countries, providing linear accelerators and coincident products and services to healthcare providers. Their newest product, the Versa HD™, has been billed as an oncology treatment with faster, more accurate radiation treatment for cancerous tumors in patients. Elekta has had some success in acquiring a backlog of orders, but finds itself limited by giant industry incumbents when it comes to proprietary rights for their products. In other words, is Elekta actually producing legally protected innovative medical devices, or are they attempting to maintain market share without the properties they need to sustain it?

Elekta’s current patent portfolio consists of 421 patents and patent applications, only 127 of which are for devices in a commercially viable space. Thirteen of the patents, for Elekta’s core technology, are potential active liabilities to the company, and another 44 have little to no commercial value. Our analysis has shown that industry incumbents like Siemens, Varian, and General Electric often have defensible, more robust patents that predate Elekta’s holdings in critical areas. Eletka’s portfolio is uncompetitive in this environment, and that should be taken into account when assessing the total enterprise.

The full M·CAM Patently Obvious® on Elekta AB can be found HERE.

Patently Obvious® Express Report on FleetCor: Recalculating Position

Date:  Tue, 2014-01-14

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – M·CAM, Inc. released a Patently Obvious® Express report on FleetCor Technologies Inc.

Since 2000, FleetCor Technologies, Inc. built a core business providing credit cards that can be utilized at select gas pumps. FleetCor’s fuel card business operates by forming partnerships with oil companies and acquiring fuel card providers. The company has shown evidence of a shift in focus in mid” 2013, as it purchased three geolocation patents from Telenav, Inc. for $10 million. While FleetCor operated for 13 years without an evident intellectual property portfolio (IP), we observe that the assets it acquired from Telenav do not protect the core of their new business.

The full M·CAM Patently Obvious® Express on FleetCor can be found HERE.

Patently Obvious® Report on Align Technology, Inc.

Date:  Mon, 2014-01-13

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – M·CAM, Inc. released a Patently Obvious® on Align Technology, Inc.

Align is an aggressive defender of its market share and routinely uses litigation to attempt to force competitors out of the clear aligner market. In 2005, it sued OrthoClear, Inc. in the Northern District of California and in the Superior Court of San Francisco for patent and trademark infringement, among other things, and ultimately settled out of court with OrthoClear agreeing to end all US operations and Align paying $20 million for its IP. In 2011, Align brought another infringement suit against Ortho Caps GmbH and Rasteder KFO Spezial-Labor GmbH in Germany and won a permanent injunction.

In contrast, Align has had notable setbacks in court in the United States. After a jury found in 2009 that Align infringed Danaher Corporation subsidiary Ormco’s intellectual property , and a judge invalidated claims from several of Align’s patents, Align and Danaher reached a settlement. Danaher took a 10% equity holding in Align and a cash payment of $13 million, for a total value of the settlement at that time of $90 million. The two companies agreed to exclusively collaborate over the next seven years. That collaboration was problematic and in November, 2013 Danaher sold over half of its shares in Align.

In 2009, ClearCorrect, LLC, an Align competitor, sought a declaration of non-infringement, invalidity, and unenforceability related to certain Align intellectual properties. ClearCorrect submitted a motion to dismiss once Align agreed not to sue ClearCorrect for patent infringement. Despite that agreement, Align filed two complaints against ClearCorrect in 2011. Align alleged that ClearCorrect was infringing US 6,471,511; US 6,217,325; US 5,975,893; US 6,705,863; US 6,722,880; US 7,125,248; US 7,134,874; and US 7,578,674 in a complaint filed in the Southern District of Texas, and filed a complaint for unlawful business practices in the Superior Court of San Francisco, asserting that ClearCorrect was not charging enough for its product. In 2012, Align filed two complaints against ClearCorrect with the US International Trade Commission (ITC).

The full M·CAM Patently Obvious® on Align Technology, Inc. can be found HERE.

Dr. Y K Hamied Honored as one of “India’s 25 Greatest Global Living Legends”

Date:  Wed, 2014-01-08

In mid-December, longtime friend of M·CAM and Chairman of Cipla, Dr. Y K Hamied was honored by NDTV Inia as one of “India’s 25 Greatest Global Living Legends”. The award ceremony was organized by NDTV at Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi. All the Awardees were acknowledged by the President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee. Dr. Hamied’s work to bring equivalent access to medication and knowledge is an inspiration to India and the globe. We congratulate Dr. Hamied on this achievement and his lifetime of impactful work.

You can read the full story and try the interactive documents:HERE.

M·CAM in Al Jazeera “Will 2014 bring the death of the patent troll?”

Date:  Fri, 2013-12-27

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – On December 27, 2013 M-CAM’s Dr. David Martin was featured in the Al Jazeera article, “Will 2014 bring the death of the patent troll?”

“Why so much attention to patent reform in such a relatively short period of time? Because “patent trolls” ”” companies that exist solely to acquire patents and then sue other companies for infringement ”” are filing more lawsuits than ever, more than 3,000 in 2012 alone.”

In this article, M-CAM provides its analysis on a case study regarding the “uniqueness” of U.S. patent No. 5,675,507. It was hardly unique.

“This is where David Martin and M-CAM sometimes come into the process. M-CAM has a database that includes 90 percent of all the patents that have ever been issued and a matching system that determines how similar they are to a patent in question. Recently, Martin did a search to see if any previously existing patents matched Bobo’s. He found 5,160 matches.”

You can read the full story and try the interactive documents:HERE.

Dr. David Martin’s Interview on Bloomberg Discussing the Rockstar Consortium portfolio

Date:  Mon, 2013-12-23

On December 23, 2013 Dr. David Martin appeared on Bloomberg West with Cory Johnson where he discussed the Rockstar Consortium portfolio. The full length interview can be viewed HERE.

M·CAM IP-backed Banking Program Included in UK Intellectual Property Office Report

Date:  Wed, 2013-12-18

The Intellectual Property Office of the United Kingdom recently published a report on the integration of knowledge assets into the capital markets. Similar to work done by Denmark’s John Horstead nearly a decade ago, this important study demonstrates the progress being made on linking intangible assets to mainstream credit and equity markets. In Chapter 7, the report details the pioneering banking work done by M·CAM.

M·CAM, Inc. releases Patently Obvious® Express on JPMorgan’s Virtual Currency Patent Application

Date:  Wed, 2013-12-11

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA December 11, 2013 – M·CAM, Inc. released its Patently Obvious® Express on JPMorgan’s Virtual Currency Patent Application

On August 5, 2013 JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPMorgan) filed an application for an electronic mobile payment system which has eerie similarities to the popular online currency Bitcoin. Unfortunately for JPMorgan, all of the claims, totaling 175 claims, as of October 18, 2013, for published US patent application 20130317984 (the ”˜984 application) have been either cancelled or rejected.

M·CAM’s Patently Obvious® is a report providing visibility into potentially unconsidered alternatives, including art in the public domain, to patent holdings across a variety of technology areas.

M·CAM, Inc. is a global, full-service intellectual property and rights (IP&R) and intangible asset financial services firm. We provide the technical and financial systems that allow public and private markets to use IP&R and IA for regulated transactions in banking, securities, insurance, and public innovation investment and technology procurement. From our pioneering work in creating the world’s first standards-based innovation collateralization financial products for banking and securities to our work in grassroots innovator enablement and patent quality assurance programs, M·CAM provides the mechanism to balance the interests of public and commercial sectors to support and build thriving economies.

The M·CAM Patently Obvious® Express on JPMorgan’s Virtual Currency Patent Application can be found HERE.

House Passes Important Legislation to End Patent Troll Abuses

Date:  Thu, 2013-12-05

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Innovation Act by a vote of 325-91 today marking the first legislative milestone in ending the extortionary practices of patent trolls. M·CAM worked with Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-VA to draft language which helps bring transparency into the patent ownership and real-party-in-interest regime. While this bill does not address all of the abuses that have been largely ignored by the U.S. Department of Justice Anti-Trust Division, it is the first and important step in ending the patent licensing racket perpetrated by non-practicing entities.

M·CAM, Inc. Releases a Patently Obvious® Express Report on Twitter

Date:  Thu, 2013-11-07

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – November 7, 2013 – M·CAM, Inc. released a Patently Obvious® Express report on Twitter, the day of its IPO.

Excerpt: “IBM’s current patent assertion against Twitter is not the first time the social media company has found itself the subject of infringement litigation. Twitter has been hit with multiple lawsuits in the past four years, but this foray by IBM is just the reconnaissance mission for a far larger struggle. By issuing the shot across the bow, IBM can test Twitter’s strength and reactions for the larger IBM portfolio. This will set the stage for a much larger global enforcement and transaction once Twitter is flush with cash from its IPO.”

Read the full Report: HERE

M·CAM’s Patently Obvious® is a weekly report providing visibility into potentially unconsidered alternatives, including art in the public domain, to patent holdings across a variety of technology areas.

M·CAM, Inc. is a global, full-service intellectual property and rights (IP&R) and intangible asset financial services firm. We provide the technical and financial systems that allow public and private markets to use IP&R and IA for regulated transactions in banking, securities, insurance, and public innovation investment and technology procurement. From our pioneering work in creating the world’s first standards-based innovation collateralization financial products for banking and securities to our work in grassroots innovator enablement and patent quality assurance programs, M·CAM provides the mechanism to balance the interests of public and commercial sectors to support and build thriving economies.

M·CAM, Inc. releases update on Universal Display Corporation Patently Obvious®

Date:  Mon, 2013-11-04

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – November 4, 2013 – M·CAM, Inc. released an update to its Universal Display Corporation Patently Obvious® report originally issued on November 30, 2011.

In 2011, M·CAM published a Patently Obvious® (here) on certain Universal Display Corp. (OLED) patents related to OLED technology. At that time, we commented on questionable OLED patent prosecution activity as well as the validity of the patents themselves. Since then, a number of these patents have been entered into reexamination. M·CAM’s update examines what this means for OLED.

M·CAM’s Patently Obvious® is a weekly report providing visibility into potentially unconsidered alternatives, including art in the public domain, to patent holdings across a variety of technology areas.

M·CAM, Inc. is a global, full-service intellectual property and rights (IP&R) and intangible asset financial services firm. We provide the technical and financial systems that allow public and private markets to use IP&R and IA for regulated transactions in banking, securities, insurance, and public innovation investment and technology procurement. From our pioneering work in creating the world’s first standards-based innovation collateralization financial products for banking and securities to our work in grassroots innovator enablement and patent quality assurance programs, M·CAM provides the mechanism to balance the interests of public and commercial sectors to support and build thriving economies.

The M·CAM Patently Obvious® update on Universal Display Corp.’s patents can be found HERE.

M·CAM Celebrates Fifteen Years of Global Operations

Date:  Thu, 2013-10-31

Today M·CAM celebrates its 15th anniversary. We incorporated in Charlottesville, Virginia on October 31, 1998. In the past 131,400 hours, we’ve worked to create the world’s first and only regulatory compliant capital markets solution explicitly focused on bringing efficient, ethical financial solutions to the assets of the knowledge economy. A Virginia Corporation from inception, M·CAM’s first outside “investor” was the Virginia Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) which awarded M·CAM the Commonwealth of Virginia’s first state Innovation Award of $30,000 issued to an IT-based financial services company. From these humble beginnings, we’ve deployed programs and services which have achieved market penetration in every country on Earth.

With this anniversary, M·CAM is one of the few firms (less than 25%) to pass the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ vital 15 year milestones after which the survival rate exceeds 91%. Our industry-leading services and technology have gained the trust and confidence of the world’s leading corporate, government and financial services firms. On the day of this anniversary, we’ve: finalized our world-wide Joint Business Relationship (JBR) agreement with the world’s leading accounting and advisory firm; been appointed as the Capital Market’s lead authorized agent for one of the world’s top 5 mineral reserves; launched the world’s first public equity qualitative text-based securities analysis platforms; and, continue to expand the banking collateral business that we’ve conducted since the day we opened our doors. We are honored to have a team of the world’s leading investment banking, insurance, and international trade executives working side by side with our unprecedented financial engineering and analytics professionals.

We would like to take this moment to thank each one of you for your vital contribution to our success and look forward to working with you and serving you in the bright future.

Rep. Goodlatte’s patent troll legislation discussed in FT

Date:  Mon, 2013-10-21

On Sunday, the Financial Times reported on Rep. Goodlatte’s current patent troll legislation. We at M·CAM continue to work with the Judiciary Committees on this legislation to bring transparency, quality and commercial consequence to the policies being put in place.

Erik Lieberman, regulatory counsel for the Food Marketing Institute was quoted in the article, “It’s (trolling) a barrier to entrepreneurship. You can’t have an e-commerce website without being targeted by a troll…It makes it difficult to do business without getting sued.”

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/c9246a6a-3113-11e3-b991-00144feab7de.html…

Team M·CAM participates in the 22nd Annual United Way Day of Caring

Date:  Mon, 2013-09-23

M·CAM had a terrific experience participating in the 22nd Annual United Way Day of Caring in Charlottesville. For this 2nd year of participation, M·CAM worked at the Jackson P. Burley Middle School weeding, mulching, and planting flowers in the garden beds on the school grounds. The team had perfect weather for the event, and everyone had a great time. One highlight was tackling the poison ivy infestation with the resourceful use plastic grocery bags as protective gear! The school staff expressed their appreciation of our hard work and the wonderful improvements. We look forward to our next event.

Dr. David Martin featured in Poetic Justice Interview by Vanessa Fisher

Date:  Sat, 2013-09-07

Dr. David Martin was featured in an interview with Poetic Justice’s Vanessa Fisher on Saturday. The interview is titled, “The Alchemy of Global Economics” and is part of Vanessa Fisher’s Dialogue Series.

The Poetic Justice site and interview can be found: HERE