April 23, 2020
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Foresight's Message: 

Keeping our Clients, Colleagues and Friends in mind during these challenging times of COVID-19 pandemic! 
Stay safe and healthy! 



Stanford Campus, April 2020 (Foresight Valuation Group  © 2020)

The pictures of Stanford campus adorning this issue of our newsletter are what I see from my window (or neighborhood walks with my dog) as I shelter-in-place here in Silicon Valley.  It's hard to find a superlative that has not yet been used to describe the impact of COVID-19 on economy, society and human interaction.  The one insight (of many) which stands out for me is the power of human innovation, and the great achievements of people coming together to fight for a common cause.  Two of our clients, Battelle and Abbott Labs, have contributed life saving technologies to the fight against COVID-19:
  •  Battelle Pioneers Technology To Clean And Reuse PPE - The Critical Care Decontamination System is capable of cleaning up to 80,000 pieces of PPE (personal protective equipment) at a time.  Battelle's system is modular, so it can be easily shipped and scaled up. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration  recently gave Battelle approval to ramp up their systems to full capacity.
  • Abbott Launches 5-Minute Virus Test for Use Almost Anywhere - The coronavirus test can detect infection in as little as five minutes, and is so small and portable it can be used in almost any health-care setting. The molecular test looks for fragments of the coronavirus genome, which can quickly be detected when present at high levels. Abbott has received emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, patents and other forms of IP rights are being challenged, but at the same time re-defined in ways that we haven't seen before.  In our COVID-19 Patent News section we cover a few stories related to the role of patents in times of a pandemic, including the initiative known as the Open COVID Pledge, where leading tech companies have  committed to making patents available to the public, free of charge, for use in ending and minimizing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In our Media section we highlight an article we recently published exploring the state of disproportional funding for women-led startups, and what are some of the possible explanations and solutions for this funding gap. We conclude that  the reasons why women don't get funded have little to do with IP, and much to do with the institutional structure of the venture capital (VC) ecosystem, as well as the corporate representation (or lack thereof) of women in senior management and board positions. 

Finally, working from home provides an excellent opportunity to enjoy some of our  upcoming webinars.   On April 29th, I will be moderating a discussion on IP Valuation and Funding in Times of Crisis, providing insights from two leading investors who focus their investment activities on IP assets.  On May 12th, I will take part in the LES Leading Edge Series virtual conference on Artificial Intelligence (AI), speaking on a panel dealing with the creation and monetization of data assets in an AI environment.  

Stay safe and healthy!

Warmly, 
     
Foresight in the Media  InTheMedia




Much has been written on women's disproportionate numbers as scientists trained in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), as well the under-representation of women as inventors of record on USPTO patents. These statistics relate to women's role in scientific development and inventorship, or in other words: in the creation of intellectual property (IP).  Having said that, the reasons why women don't get funded have little to do with IP, and much to do with the institutional structure of the venture capital (VC) ecosystem, as well as the corporate representation (or lack thereof) of women in senior management and board positions. 

In this article (recently published in preparation  for a conference panel titled: "The Gender Gap: Addressing STEM Education, Funding and Inventorship"),  we present some of the recent trends in funding women-led startups, as well as the legislative and economic changes that we feel may be moving the needle in the right direction.  For an in-depth discussion of women funding, as well as other topics related to the representation of women in the innovation economy, please attend this panel discussion at the upcoming IPWatchdog CON2020 in Dallas (September 2020).

  Full article here 

IP News Digest  IPNewsDigest


Stanford Campus, April 2020 (Foresight Valuation Group © 2020
  
COVID-19 Patent News
 
Amazon, Facebook, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, IBM, Microsoft, and Sandia National Laboratories join "Open COVID Pledge" to make patents freely available in the fight against COVID-19
T ech innovators commit to making their full collections of patents available to the public, free of charge, for use in ending and minimizing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.


USPTO Waives Petition to Revive Fees for Patents, Patent Applications, Trademarks and Trademark Applications Abandoned Because of an Inability to Respond Due to COVID-19
To give patent and trademark applicants as well as patent and trademark owners relief from the implications of the COVID-19 outbreak, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) determined that the COVID-19 outbreak qualifies as an "extraordinary situation" and exercised its authority to waive certain petition fees. 
Full article here

The Feds Can Stop Patent Trolls from Endangering COVID-19 Testing and Treatment
It's unthinkable that bad actors could take advantage of patent law and keep the public from getting access to COVID-19 tests and treatment, but they can and will-it already happened this month. Fortunately, an often-overlooked section of U.S. patent law allows the government to do something about it.
Full article here

AbbVie gives up patent rights to HIV med Kaletra amid COVID-19 tests
AbbVie will not enforce global patent rights on all formulations of HIV med Kaletra (Aluvia) as the drug is being evaluated to treat severe COVID-19 in several clinical trials.   The move would free countries to purchase Kaletra generics in the event of a shortage or if the drug is found to be effective in treating COVID-19 patients.
Full article here

Don't Let Life Sciences Innovation Become Another Coronavirus Casualty
Traditional rivals within the life sciences industry have pledged to cooperate by sharing data, patent libraries, and, if necessary, manufacturing capacity. This unprecedented pooling of resources can only happen where IP rights are protected.
Full article here

Other IP News

Peloton and NMPA Agree to Settle Copyright Infringement Lawsuit
Peloton and The National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA) announced that they have reached an agreement to  "fully settled the litigation brought last year by 14 NMPA members."  The $370 million lawsuit alleged that Peloton -- which manufactures exercise bikes that stream instructor-led fitness classes via built-in touch screens -- had used more than 1,000 copyright musical compositions without obtaining needed licenses.
Full article here

Apple Still Owes Caltech $838 Million as Appeals Court Declines to Invalidate Patent
Apple in January was  ordered to pay  the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) $838 million for infringing on Caltech patents related to WiFi transmissions. Apple was hoping to get one of the patents in the case invalidated, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled against Apple and declined to invalidate the patent in question, upholding a prior decision from an administrative patent court.

IBM claimed that short-term rental giant Airbnb took innovations made by IBM to run its e-commerce business, particularly innovations used by IBM in Prodigy, one of the first e-commerce services available before the advent of the World Wide Web.

Broadcom alleges that Netflix has infringed on eight patents dealing with video playback and data transmission. The suit claims that Netflix's infringement has contributed to the rise of cord-cutting, which has driven down demand for Broadcom's chips.

A patent application for a new battery that uses glass as a key component has been submitted by a team headed by John Goodenough, the part winner of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work as co-inventor of the lithium-ion battery that is the go-to power source for electric cars and energy storage.  The new glass battery will deliver a significant increase in storage capacity.

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