Patent Buyer Beware – A Patently Obvious Follow Up

Date:  Thu, 2012-01-12

Motorola Mobility’s recent statement that it’s expected 4th quarter shortfall was due to “an increased competitive environment in the mobile device business and higher legal costs associated with ongoing intellectual property (IP) litigations” was clearly an attempt at damage control prior to the release of its quarterly report and came as no surprise to M·CAM. Last August shortly after Google announced their $12.5 billion MMI acquisition, M·CAM’s chairman David E. Martin appeared on Bloomberg West with Cory Johnson and explained that Google’s acquisition of MMI for it’s patents was “an immense mistake.” M·CAM highly doubts MMI’s outlook will improve, nor do we think that the MMI patent portfolio will prove to be the armor Google expects against would be plaintiffs including those that hold core pieces of mobile handset technology. The current market with its failed comprehension of patent commercial market consequence coupled with the defective patent system has lead to massive overpayments and panic-sticken purchasers (Google being one of them.)

M·CAM believes that in the current litigious environment, patent portfolio transactions should be entered into with complete visibility as to whether the portfolio will either protect the purchaser’s market position or open market opportunities. For example, Kodak has been attempting to sell a subset of its digital imaging patents to raise cash since July. “The market” has predicted that the portfolio could be worth as much as $3 billion. Now reports are surfacing that Kodak is preparing for bankruptcy reorganization. This is no surprise to M·CAM. We reported in our September 23rd 2011 Patently Obvious(TM) report that a significant portion of Kodak’s patent portfolio is impaired or lacks commercial value. Now with the whole of the patent portfolio at risk of liquidation M·CAM believes that buyers should be particularly dubious of over-inflated valuations made with a lack of visibility for patent quality and commercial fitness.

As the world’s leading intangible asset finance firm, M·CAM has long been in front of patent quality analysis associated with litigation risks along with providing competitive intelligence for business to identify effective pathways for the commercialization of their intellectual property (IP). M·CAM has developed an underwriting platform based on a set of proprietary, unstructured data-mining algorithms that allow us to measure and quantify the market consequence, commercial and obsolescence risk of intangible assets such as patents, trademarks, executory contracts, exploration licenses, development rights, licenses, long-term supply contracts and all other intangible assets. Further, M·CAM has assisted buyers to identify the most effective intellectual property (IP) to strengthen their portfolios, provide pathways to new markets and limit overpayment of impaired intangible assets. For example, during the liquidation of the Ampex patent portfolio, we assisted our client fund manager to make a right sized offer of $7 million for the entirety of the company’s impaired patent portfolio. As the Kodak digital portfolio is prepared for potential liquidation, M·CAM believes intelligent market participants should turn their diligence up to increase visibility to real market consequence.

M·CAM Unveils New Integral Trade Brand

Date:  Thu, 2012-01-12

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – January 12, 2012 M·CAM Inc. Unveils New Integral Trade Brand

Integral Trade is a way of engagement based on the following values: Conflict and Oppression Free Engagement, Ecologically Sound Engagement, Shared Risk and Reward, Transparent Engagement and Productive Economic Purpose.

All Integral Trade extraction, processing, and production are conflict and oppression free and have obtained the consent of the persons who participate in the stewardship of their local resources and are free to choose their mode of engagement. Steps in the Integral Trade extraction, processing, production and logistics value chain must evidence ecologically sound practices transitioning to clean methods with equivalent direction given to the lifecycle of repurposing product components. Integral Trade capital structures must reflect an appropriate balance between risk and reward. Integral Trade participants must share in profit and loss of a transaction. Integral Trade transactions must have “material finality” in that they directly or indirectly are linked to real economic transactions. All Integral Trade transactions and value exchanges within the global community are to be disclosed to all participants involved in the transaction; allowing communities to assess their degree of participation. All end products, processes, and their applications must be actively shared with all participants in the supply chain, permitting those at the origination of resources to learn how to add value, thereby building a knowledge capacity for subsequent endeavors.

Learn more about Integral Trade HERE.

M·CAM, Inc. unveils new plans for Patently Obvious® and releases Patently Obvious® on Sprint Nextel Corp.

Date:  Mon, 2012-01-09

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – January 9, 2012 – M·CAM, Inc. unveils new plans for Patently Obvious® and releases its Patently Obvious® report on Sprint Nextel Corp.

With the start of the new year, M·CAM’s Patently Obvious® reports take on a new dimension. Each week of the month our reports will focus on one of three themes: (1) egregious patent prosecutorial behavior – including an in-depth critique of U.S. Patent Office patent examiners and their international counterparts; (2) hot off the press pronouncements of patent value that may or may not reflect reality; or (3) the anti-job, anti-business abuses of non-operating entities (aka trolls) that rob operating businesses of earned income and undermine the value of legitimate innovation harming our nation’s economy.

Following this format, this week we are focusing on the December 19 suits Sprint Nextel filed against Time Warner, Comcast and others for infringing their VoIP patents. In light of Sprint’s previous win against Vonage, we’d like to point out some deeper issues that Vonage failed to pursue, and suggest that the new defendants focus on fundamental ways in which the patent system allows this kind of litigious madness in the first place.

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® report on Sprint Nextel Corp. can be found HERE.

M·CAM Releases 2011 Heritable Innovation Trust Document

Date:  Wed, 2012-01-04

January 4, 2012 – Rabaul, East New Britian, Paupa New Guinea; Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; Napo, Ecuador and Charlottesville, Virginia — M·CAM Releases 2011 Heritable Innovation Trust Document. The 2011 document is organized in an encyclopedia format, to compile all of the information collected over the past three years into one integrated document.

By organizing the document in this manner, we have been able to draw connections between communities separated by thousands of miles of water and land, truly allowing all participating communities to be an integral part of a global knowledge sharing network.

This year’s efforts could not have been completed with out the contributions of our interns,Antonia Berki, Roger Lynn Bohon, Rodriques Lamar Jackson, Riley Scott Little, Sharadha Ramakrishnan, members of the M·CAM team specifically Denise Holman, David Martin, Kenneth Dabkowski, and Katie Martin, our on-site partners Theresa Arek, Nergui Dorj, Sharmayne Ryan, and Ian Sexton, as well as the welcoming family of B. Erdenebaatar and S. Budkhand in Mongolia and the entire community of Ngavalus in New Ireland, Papua New Guinea.

For more on the Heritable Innovation Trust, visit www.heritableinnovationtrust.org

View the 2011 Heritable Innovation Trust Document HERE

M·CAM Inc. releases the 3rd volume of “The Navigare”

Date:  Wed, 2011-12-28

M·CAM Inc. released the 3rd volume of “The Navigare” today – the last volume of 2011! This volume highlights our most recent involvement in Papua New Guinea, M·CAM’s response to the Occupy Wall Street Movement, an Integral Accounting Audit in Nepal, and a reader’s challenge (to name a few)! To read more about this quarter at M·CAM, check out the PDF version or you can view it directly by clicking HERE

Updates From The Kevin Rohan Memorial Eco Foundation (KRMEF)

Date:  Tue, 2011-12-27

M·CAM’s partnership in Nepal has shared with us the Foundation’s 2011 Progress Report. 2011 included biodynamic activities, the completion of construction on the community library, and work with the University of Virginia. You can view the report HERE

M·CAM, Inc. releases Patently Obvious® on British Telecommunications v. Google

Date:  Fri, 2011-12-23

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – December 23, 2011 – M·CAM, Inc. released its Patently Obvious® report today on British Telecommunications v. Google.

Every so often, British Telecommunications initiates patent litigation that can have eccentric, almost wistful elements. BT engaged in that behavior back in 2000 when the telecommunications conglomerate claimed ownership of the hyperlink. This time, they are staking a claim to mobile GPS. Let’s see if the proof is in the Christmas pudding.

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® report on British Telecommunications v. Google can be found HERE.

M·CAM, Inc. releases Patently Obvious® on PersonalWeb Technologies

Date:  Fri, 2011-12-16

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – December 16, 2011 – M·CAM, Inc. released its Patently Obvious® report today on PersonalWeb Technologies

On December 8, 2011, hidden within the buzz surrounding the Great Android War and the upcoming vote on the SOPA bill, PersonalWeb Technologies (run by, among others, Michael Weiss and Kevin Bermeister, the founders of Morpheus and Kazaa, respectively) quietly filed patent infringement suits in the Eastern District of Texas against Google, Youtube, Amazon and others. Are Weiss and Bermeister really the “reformed pirates” everyone’s claiming them to be, or is it all just a ruse to hide a real Nightmare Before Christmas?

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® report on PersonalWeb Technologies can be found HERE.

M·CAM, Inc. releases Patently Obvious® on Apple, Inc. Patent-Related Rulings

Date:  Thu, 2011-12-08

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – December 8, 2011 – M·CAM, Inc. released its Patently Obvious® report today on Apple, Inc. Patent-Related Rulings

Apple has conveniently decided to pop back into the news – and just in time for the holidays – with the recent Apple v Samsung ruling and the upcoming Dec. 14th International Trade Commission determination. Join us for our End of Season Apple Sale where we analyze Apple’s claims to fingers and all things rectangular (”¦ they don’t specify human fingers, so don’t think that trolls and elves can go around willy-nilly just using their fingers either).

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® report on Apple, Inc. Patent-Related Rulings can be found HERE.

Global Innovation Commons Featured on Worldwide Tipping Point & Community Currency

Date:  Sun, 2011-12-04

Recently, The Global Innovation Commons has been featured on Worldwide Tipping Point & Community Currency.

Worldwide Tipping Point, written by Todd Goldfarb, was created looking for a quantifiable measure for the global awakening. Through interviewing various types of people ranging from anthropologists to business gurus Goldfarb looks to “help make sense of this unique period of time we are living”.

Worldwide Tipping Point interviewed The Global Innovation Commons’ creator and featured contributor, Dr. David Martin. Goldfarb describes The Global Innovation Commons as “changing the world from the bottom up”.

Listen to the entire interview, HERE.

The most recent feature comes from Community Currency. Community Currency, is written by Carol Brouillet, the co-founder of the International Media Project, which produces Making Contact, a half-hour radio program “committed to investigative journalism, in-depth critical analysis, the promotion of civic participation and the dissemination of educational material”. Her blog looks at the differences between money and real wealth in an attempt to take a “step towards a new system which serves human needs”.

Brouillet’s interview of Dr. David Martin, on The Global Innovation Commons was aired on Thursday December 1st at 2:00pm EST. You can find the article about her upcoming interview, HERE.

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

Date:  Wed, 2011-11-30

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – November 30, 2011 – M·CAM, Inc. released its Patently Obvious® report today on Universal Display Corp.

With Thanksgiving feasts fully digested, fueling the shopping frenzy of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we are thankfully lighter of over $50 billion in unwanted cash that was weighing us down. And here at M·CAM, we’re in the process of donning our kerchiefs, caps and settling into the languorous, hot-chocolate aided stupor that precedes the last holiday rush of the year. Time to crack open a nostalgic tale of Dickens’ Christmas Carol”¦.

But wait, this isn’t the Christmas Carol! No, it’s Oliver Twist.

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® report on Universal Display Corp. can be found HERE.

M·CAM, Inc. releases Patently Obvious® on Patent Trolls and Big Media

Date:  Mon, 11/21/2011

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – November 21, 2011 – M·CAM, Inc. released its Patently Obvious® report today on Patent Trolls and Big Media

The technology sector has been good to patent trolls, and this shows no sign of letting up. Recently, trolls have been testing their success in a new sector: media. Is this a wise move? What happens when they get the attention of CBS, The New York Times, Gannett, and Bloomberg?

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® report on Patent Trolls and Big Media can be found HERE.

M·CAM, Inc. releases Patently Obvious® on Mobile Commerce Framework v Groupon

Date:  Fri, 2011-11-11

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – November 11, 2011 – M·CAM, Inc. released its Patently Obvious® report today on Mobile Commerce Framework v Groupon.

Every so often, an unsuspecting company becomes ensnared in the patent world, sometimes unwittingly. Like a saber tooth tiger blissfully wandering into the La Brea tar pits, its inaugural foray into this ferocious world can lead to becoming lunch or, in some cases, infect them to become perpetrators downstream. Fresh from Groupon’s IPO, the fangs are coming out”¦ and there’s more fangs than mouths.

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® report on Mobile Commerce Framework v Groupon can be found HERE.

M·CAM, Inc. releases Patently Obvious® on Intellectual Ventures v Nikon

Date:  Fri, 2011-11-04

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – November 4, 2011 – M·CAM, Inc. released its Patently Obvious® report today on Intellectual Ventures v Nikon.

As a companion to yesterday’s report, where we lay out the seriousness of non-operating patent licensing entities’ exploitive effects on South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan’s GDP, this analysis drives home the point that the countries in question have an opportunity to stop the abuse of both their companies and their own GDP. For example, let us consider the patents asserted in Intellectual Venture’s recent suit against Nikon to highlight the opportunity that, if these countries banded together to finance reexamination, companies in these countries – either defendants or those with licensing agreements with IV – could likely prevail in invalidation of IV patents using their own portfolios.

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® report on Intellectual Ventures v Nikon can be found HERE.

M·CAM, Inc. releases Patently Obvious® on a Knowledge Tariff in Asia – A Letter to Korea, Taiwan and Japan

Date:  Thu, 2011-11-03

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – November 3, 2011 – M·CAM, Inc. released its Patently Obvious® report today on a Knowledge Tariff in Asia – A Letter to Korea, Taiwan and Japan.

While we here at M·CAM often try to see the lighter side of intellectual property issues when we perform our Patently Obvious® analyses, when as much as twenty percent of an entire country’s GDP is being exploited, we take it very seriously. We’ve decided to address a missive to the governments of South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, and the reason is simple. They’ve been the target of abusive behavior and they have a mechanism to stop the abuse.

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® report on a Knowledge Tariff in Asia – A Letter to Korea, Taiwan and Japan can be found HERE.

M·CAM, Inc. featured on Techdirt

Date:  Wed, 2011-11-02

November 2, 2011- M·CAM’s Patently Obvious Report featuring the Apple Inc’s “Slide-to-Unlock” Patents was featured on TechDirt today.

“The M-CAM document linked above looks deeply at the patents in question, noting how the claims in Apple’s original patent were completely rejected three separate times. For whatever reason, the USPTO refuses to really issue final rejections. So those desiring patents, can just keep adjusting and adjusting. The document also is left wondering how come the original claims were rejected while the final claims somehow made it through, noting that the changes seem meaningless.”

Read the TechDirt Article HERE

Read the Patently Obvious Report HERE

M·CAM, Inc. releases Patently Obvious® on Apple Inc’s “Slide-to-Unlock” Patents

Date:  Fri, 2011-10-28

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – October 28, 2011 – M·CAM, Inc. released its Patently Obvious® report today on Apple Inc’s “Slide-to-Unlock” Patents

Apple seems to have taken two bites at… well, the apple, with its latest slide-to-unlock patent. Why “two bites”? Because it’s a reference to double patenting, an illegal abuse of the patent system. You know, what USPTO patent examiner, Mr. Andres Gutierrez, said before he rejected every claim Apple was applying for, three separate times, in this issued continuation (read: we want to get credit for an earlier patent’s priority date) of another slide-to-unlock patent.

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® report on Apple Inc’s “Slide-to-Unlock” patents can be found HERE.

The Global Innovation Commons Releases Around The World Featured Item: Colorectal Cancer

Date:  Tue, 2011-10-25

October 25, 2011- The Global Innovation Commons released another Around The World Featured Item: Colorectal Cancer.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is facing a difficult problem. Apart from breast and cervical cancer, colorectal cancer is slowly taking its toll towards the younger generation in (the Kingdom of) Saudi Arabia. Being the third most common cancer in the world, this disease is affecting the young population to a greater extent with an advanced stage presentation.*

“Colorectal Cancer (CRC), Colon Cancer and Cancer of the Rectum usually begin as a small polyp. While most colon polyps are benign, some do become cancerous. Colon cancer symptoms may include a change in bowel habits or bleeding, but usually colon cancer strikes without symptoms. That’s why it’s important to get a colon cancer screening test, such as a colonoscopy. If the cancer is found early, the doctor can use surgery, radiation, and/or chemotherapy for effective treatment.**”

In this set of Global Innovation Commons open source technologies, solutions to CRC Surgery, Antibody Compositions, Bioinformatics, Molecular Biology, Drug – Gene Therapy, and Organic Compounds – Peptides are provided.

Click to view the Global Innovation Commons Sets on Colorectal Cancer HERE

Guest Collaborator:

We at the Global Innovation Commons are please to welcome our highly regarded friend, Dr. Mohammad Azhar Aziz, as a guest collaborator on this initiative. Dr. Aziz intends to establish a Center for Familial Colorectal Cancer at the King Abdullah International Medical Research Center National Guard Health Affairs in Riyadh, Kingdom Saudi Arabia. The aim of the Center is to create scientific awareness for hereditary colorectal cancer in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The proposal follows below:

Proposal for the Development of a Center for Familial Colorectal Cancer to create scientific awareness for hereditary colorectal cancer counselling, genetic diagnostics, surveillance and treatment in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

A better understanding of the molecular basis of hereditary colorectal cancer syndromes yields profound consequences for the diagnosis, surveillance and prophylactic treatment of (pre)malignant neoplastic lesions. Sequence analysis of the underlying genes for these tumours and the detection of disease-causing genetic alterations in a proband enable predictive testing for individuals at risk within an affected family.

The Dresden Center for Familial Colorectal Cancer has been since 1995 active in the study of the molecular basis of several Colorectal Cancer Syndromes. Together with human geneticists and clinicians, we, the members of the Department of Surgical Research, have screened 1316 patients with hereditary tumours and performed molecular diagnostics for various syndromes such as Peutz-Jeghers Syndrome (Gene: STK11), Cowden Syndrome (PTEN), and Familial Adenomatous Polyposis coli (APC, MUTYH). The most frequent cause of familial colorectal cancer remains HNPCC or Lynch Syndrome caused by mutations of Mismatch Repair (MMR) Genes MSH2, MLH1, MSH6 andPMS2. We have identified germline mutations in 224 families and have performed predictive diagnostics in 296 relatives of probands. A HNPCC specific surveillance is highly recommended for probands who are carriers of MMR-deficient tumors or mutation carriers and their relatives. Our prospective data on the efficacy of colonoscopic surveillance in individuals with HNPCC suggest that annual colonoscopic surveillance is recommended for individuals with HNPCC.

In addition, we have contributed five families to worldwide reports of more than 70 families with biallelic mutations in MMR genes. Most of those patients are the offspring of a consanguineous marriage. Tumor spectrum of patients with biallelic germline mutations is different from HNPCC.

The necessity for proper assessment of the risk of familial colorectal cancer has become increasingly evident. In Germany alone, this inherited condition remains largely unrecognized in up to 3,000 colorectal cancer patients per year, while the benefit of surveillance and screening in at risk patients and families has been clearly documented. Further recommendations based on predictive molecular testing such as prophylactic treatment, require critical evidence-based evaluation.

Based on the experience of the Dresden Center for Familial Colorectal Cancer, we intend to establish a Center for Familial Colorectal Cancer at the King Abdullah International Medical Research Center National Guard Health Affairs in Riyadh, Kingdom Saudi Arabia. Our aim is to create scientific awareness for hereditary colorectal cancer in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Objective

The objective of the proposed mission is to establish a Center for Familial Colorectal Cancer at the King Abdullah International Medical Research Center National Guard Health Affairs in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We aim at creating scientific awareness for hereditary colorectal cancer prescreening in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

This mission will be accomplished in close cooperation between the Center for Familial Colorectal Dresden at the University of Dresden, Germany (Prof. Dr. med. Hans K. Schackert, Chief Executiveof the Center for Familial Colorectal Cancer Dresden) and the King Abdullah International Medical Research Center National Guard Health Affairs in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Dr. Mohammad Azhar Aziz, PhD, Associate Research Scientist).

The German organization GTZ provides this proposal.

(Source-The Global Innovation Commons)

*http://saudilife.net/health/10169-colorectal-cancer-in-saudi-arabia

**http://www.webmd.com/colorectal-cancer/default.htm

M·CAM, Inc. releases Patently Obvious® on Amazon and the Microsoft Android Licensing Program

Date:  Fri, 2011-10-21

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – October 21, 2011 – M·CAM, Inc. released its Patently Obvious® report today on Amazon and the Microsoft Android Licensing Program

Trick or treat, Amazon? Microsoft recently signed an IP licensing agreement with Quanta, Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet manufacturer. Does Amazon have anything to worry about? Yes! Because Microsoft has plenty of company.

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® report on Amazon and the Microsoft Android Licensing Program can be found HERE.

Presidio to host “An Evening with Global Entrepreneur Dr. David Martin”

Date:  Tue, 2011-10-18

Tonight at PresdioSpace in San Francisco, Edward West and Presidio will be hosting Dr. David Martin. The event hopes to create an opportunity for both students and faculty at Presidio to connect with Dr. Martin and gain exposure to M·CAM’s important work.

“David Martin is an iconoclastic thinking, and approaches sustainability from a radical, structural, systemic-change perspective. He is a modern-day globe-trotting renaissance man: while the company he founded company specializes in semantic web technology for unstructured data analysis, you might also find him helping to broker peace in a civil war over mining rights in Papua New Guinea, uncovering Wall Street corruption, or setting up entrepreneurship and innovation programs for schoolchildren in rural India.

Throughout all of the work he does runs the thread of identifying key forces at play in a global system and strategically intervening to create tipping points which shift the system toward sustainability.” (Source: PresidioSpace)