Sunday snippets

Free guide to patent analytics, and patent landscape reports.  While many practitioners, and organizations provide, or use patent landscape reports, there are precious few resources for learning how to conduct patent analytics, or create patent landscape reports in the first place. The World Intellectual Property Organization, in conjunction with Patinformatics, LLC has published a free document entitled Guidelines for Preparing Patent Landscape Reports that seeks to address the need for more educational materials on this topic, and to encourage the discussion of best practices. Additional details on the contents of the guidelines can be found here.

Around the weblogs. Mike Mireles, writing on IP Finance, records the potential impact upon the pharmaceutical industry of the current contest to occupy the White House. Over on Art & Artifice, this Kat notes the return to Folkestone of Art Buff, another wandering piece of Banksy art: it seems that the best way to get a wall knocked down, in whole or part, is to get the celebrated graffiti artist to decorate it.  Mark Anderson, on IP Draughts, raises some questions that many will not welcome about the status of a new-fangled (or not-yet-fangled) unitary patent as an object of national property. On the 1709 Blog, Marie-Andrée Weiss asks whether an app to facilitate the sharing of printed books might be running into trouble under French law.

Substitute sellers and the fight for survival. In Monday's fascinating blogpost on substitute sellers, "No substitute for the real thing: Bonningtons and friends prepare for Battle of the Button", guest author Aidan Parsons wrote of his company's initiative in commissioning from Williams Commerce a very handy piece of software to deal with online parasites. This Kat wondered whether that software might be available for others to use.  The good news is "yes". Says Aidan:

"I have now spoken to Rob Williams at Williams Commerce regarding the possibility of licensing the software they developed for monitoring listings on Amazon. He would be happy to do so. We are actually working together at the moment to increase the functionality of the software so that it can be used as a quasi case management system for IP infringement matters. If anyone is interested in the software, they should contact me by email on aidan@bonningtonplastics.com and I will explain how the software works and how it can be best employed and then I will refer them to Rob if it sounds like the software suits their purposes".