A goose-step for IP recruitment?

If you've been thinking of chucking it all in, abandoning all pretensions of sole practice and getting a real job instead, your thoughts will turn towards the choice of a recruitment firm to aid you. In this context, "Controversial Goose Attack Video Launches Intellectual Property Recruitment Firm; Fellows and Associates" (see Marketing News Today, here) might just influence your decision.

Right: this is not the actual goose, but a lookalike body-double ...

According to the this article,

"Patent and Trade Mark Attorney recruitment firm, Fellows and Associates launches its brand with a YouTube video entitled ‘Goose Attack At Wedding’. The video, which features a photographer in an entanglement with a goose, was released on YouTube, Dailymotion, and other leading sites last week. The photographer’s unconventional approach to problem solving could be seen as controversial.

The video was filmed guerrilla style in Leeds, West Yorkshire, with a combination of professional actors, film crew and extras (including the part of the photographer) recruited via Facebook and Gumtree. Alan Jones who plays the photographer said, “I was really excited to see myself on YouTube but hope my debut is not too controversial. It’s been a real demonstration of what can be achieved and shows businesses that perhaps would not have traditionally advertised on Television that they can produce a fantastic result and be able to distribute their work in an audiovisual format.” There has so far been no comment from the goose.

The film took three months to develop with the majority of that time spent brainstorming ideas with the production team. Concepts that were dismissed included running across cows, beat boxing, large inflatables, kids driving trucks, 1950s style educational films and building a time machine. “The aim was to find an idea that was provocative in order to elicit a response and maximise the video’s potential for spreading virally whilst maintaining a balance of responsible advertising” says Fellows and Associates Managing Director, Pete Fellows.

Fellows and Associates are the first UK recruitment firm in the Intellectual Property sector to experiment with viral video advertising.

“Our competitors in Intellectual Property sector recruitment do not make the best use of the online resources available,” says Pete “we believe a social networking strategy including sites such as Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook and YouTube is now crucial to brand awareness and building on our network of contacts throughout the world ...."

Three months, for a 56-second do-it-yourself-style video? You can form your own opinion if it's worthwhile ...

Feral pigeon was not available for comment.

A surprise in my mailbox

I got this in my email in-box today. I had no idea that Thomson Reuters had an IP service. Is this something to do with CompuMark, which I believe the same company owns?

Many of our customers are facing budget cuts and some have to abandon their IP. Are your patent maintenance fees costing more that you would like?
- Are you experiencing challenges w. your renewals?
- Is your portfolio managed by external counsels?
- Do you have visibility of your patent portfolio and are they align with your company’s strategies?

Summary benefits of Thomson Reuters’ IP services are:

• Cost savings - receive discounts from our bulk renewals
• Time saving - IP consolidation
• Efficiency - 1 supplier instead of managing multiple attorneys
• Security – robust technology w. 20,000 IP rules, VIP payments to reduce liability
• Quality service - receipt tracking, data audits w. discrepancy reconciliation
Could you do me a favour and forward the material to your team members? Please feel free to contact me to discuss your IP requirements. When would it be convenience to discuss as to how we can assist you?

Thomson Reuters is the largest intellectual property solution provider. We have been in the industry for >35 years, specialising in patent & trademark case management software and payment services. We renew >750,000 patents & trademarks p.a. in >400 jurisdictions for customers such as GSK and Pfizer. Our customers have benefited from reduced patent maintenances fee and streamlined their IP processes.

IPMaster patent portfolio database
http://www.thomsonipmanagement.com/ip-manager.aspx
Patent & Trademark payment services
http://www.thomsonipmanagement.com/ip-payments.aspx

Nothing like a Good Argument

However well you know the law, a skeleton argument in a trademark opposition looks a bit naked without some authority. Sometimes of course, you need to check your facts and the way the wind is blowing on a patentability issue. Therefore, even for the solo practitioner having access to a legal library is important.

Free resources are always best and I have just discovered some excellent English law stuff that is appearing on the website of Insite Law Magazine. Particularly valuable are the Contract materials, because they are not well covered in other IP-focused resources.

For those of you who are subscribed to our Westlaw IP package, we have a renewal coming up in November so I am looking for any feedback from users. The subscription is for UK-based sole practitioner's (sorry not counsel) and currently includes books (including the CIPA Black Book) cases and magazines on UK and European IP law. If there are other resources on http://www.westlaw.co.uk/cases/index.shtm or http://www.lawtel.com/ that you are prepared to PAY for let me know and we will see what can be negotiated. Having a professional structured interface to access legal materials does represent a significant improvement over bare Internet access to cases.

However for the truly credit- crunched here are some more favourite FREE links

BAILII British and Irish Legal Information Institute decisions of English courts and Nominet
CURIA European Court of Justice and Court of First Instance cases
EPO EPO Board of Appeal Decisions database