M·CAM to Participate in IPOS IP Fair – Singapore

Date:  Fri, 2014-07-18

SINGAPORE – From August 25-27, 2014, M·CAM will be participating in Singapore IPOS’ IP week held at Level 3 of the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre.

“With an overarching theme of “IP @ The Marketplace”, the IP Ecosystem Fair provides a vibrant platform that showcases the ‘Best of Class’ amongst leading IP intermediaries and service providers from the five pillars of the IP Competency Framework (IPCF). Featuring and facilitating networking of IP professionals, the Fair would also raise the awareness of IP issues.”

See other participants and learn more: HERE

M·CAM releases Patently Obvious® on Microsoft’s Android License

Date:  Thu, 2014-07-10

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA July 10, 2014- M·CAM released its Patently Obvious® on Microsoft’s Android License

Since 2010, Microsoft has licensed a patent portfolio to device makers who use Android, the open source platform in many mobile devices. Industry experts estimate that Microsoft is generating $1 to $2 billion annually from this licensing program and speculation has abounded as to which patents are included in this portfolio. In a surprise twist, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) disclosed two lists of patents that detail which Microsoft claims are implemented in Android.

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 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® Microsoft’s Android License can be found HERE.

M·CAM Participates In The Great American Music Project Launch

Date:  Sun, 2014-06-29

ALEXANDRIA, VA – On Saturday, June 29th, M·CAM participated in the Great American Music Project (GRAMP) launch event. Cody Brooks was a featured music performer with Gabriel Kelley, Victoria Ghost and Tim O’Brien. The GRAMP is a platform initiated by Chris Bickford and Christian Nagle to showcase the best in American roots music, from Blues and Bluegrass to Southern Soul and more. Dr. David Martin of M·CAM was recognized for his involvement in organizing this initiative.

GRAMP Background:

“Give us your tired, your poor, your battered fiddles and secondhand trombones, your Old World instruments yearning to be reinvented, and we will make music the likes of which the world has never known. From Ragtime to Rock and Roll, from Bluegrass to Blue-eyed Soul, from Rhythm and Blues to Cajun and Tejano, no country has ever spawned such a dizzying variety of musical forms as has the United States. Born out of adversity, bred on ingenuity and cultural collision, fueled by rapid technological innovation and tumultuous social change, American Music* has inspired envy and emulation the world over since the dawn of the twentieth century. More than our cuisine, more than our art, more than our fashion or our architecture, it is our music that most defines our culture; and our musical heritage, rooted in the geography of swamps, deltas, hollers, deserts, rivers, beaches, and great iron cities, is perhaps our greatest collective treasure: an auditory highway that can lead any who are up for the journey deep into the fertile and sometimes fetid soul of the American imagination.”

Follow GRAMP: HERE

M·CAM’s David Martin and Sarhank Group Chairman Moustapha Sarhank Speak at TechWadi Forum in San Francisco

Date:  Sat, 2014-06-14

SAN FRANCISCO – On Sunday, June 14th, M·CAM’s Dr.David Martin and Sarhank Group Chairman Moustapha Sarhank spoke at the TechWadi Forum in San Francisco, California. The program was entitled, “Local to Global: Scaling Internationally Through Joint Ventures,” where they laid out a road map for scaling in the media, IT and knowledge industries.

In it’s fifth year, TechWadi brought together Middle East and North Africa (MENA) entrepreneurs, capital sources, and thought leaders. As described:

“The entrepreneurship ecosystem in the Middle East has evolved beautifully in the last five years; so has the quality and impact of startups and entrepreneurs. Last year in particular was seminal. Incubators and accelerators tripled capacity, venture capital and angel funds quadrupled, and funds raised by high impact entrepreneurs exceeded $500 million – or 2.5 times the total pool of capital in 2012!”

Please learn more about the event: HERE

David Martin on Bloomberg West – Is the U.S. Patent System Broken?

Date:  Fri, 2014-05-23

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA — David Martin, founder and chairman of M-CAM, reacts to the Senate killing the patent reform bill. He speaks with Cory Johnson on Bloomberg Television’s “Bloomberg West.”

M·CAM, Inc. releases Patently Obvious® Express on the Beats Acquisition

Date:  Mon, 2014-05-12

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA May 12, 2013 – M·CAM, Inc. released its Patently Obvious® Express on the Beats Acquisition

No one is asking if Beats has the actual assets to be in the streaming music business, or even the audio software business. Is this valuation purely an overpriced speculation? Is the addition of Beats’ intellectual property portfolio actually accretive to Apple’s quest for a major play in the streaming music subscriber market? Or is the acquisition a move to hire Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre?

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 the Beats Acquisition can be found HERE.

M·CAM Impacts Plan for Mining Laws in Papua New Guinea

Date:  Wed, 2014-05-07

PAPUA NEW GUINEA – Exerpt from The National:

“Attorney General Kerenga Kua says there will be revolutionary changes to mining and petroleum laws to ensure that maximum benefits flow to landowners and the people of Papua New Guinea. He told Parliament yesterday, in a no-holds barred reply to a question from Kabwum MP Bob Dadae, that the people of this country had been taken for a ride for too long by resource developers and things must change…”

Read the entire story in The National: HERE

The Guardian Covers M·CAM’s Work in the U.K.

Date:  Mon, 2014-05-05

LONDON, ENGLAND – Jennifer Rankin and Birgitte Andersen at The Guardian did a great job covering M·CAM and the work currently being undertaken in the UK.

Read the full story, “M·CAM, the knowledge underwriter – how to value intangible assets”: HERE

Read the full story, “Why Britain needs an innovation bank”: HERE

David Martin on NPR Discussing Apple’s Win

Date:  Sat, 2014-05-03

From NPR –

“Yesterday a jury handed down a mixed verdict in a patent dispute between Samsung and Apple. Both sides were found to have violated each other’s patents, however Apple received most of the damages – over $119 million.”

“DAVID MARTIN: There’s obviously a significant delta between what the jury figured out and what Apple thought it had figured out.”

Read the full story: HERE

NPR Reports: “How The Supreme Court Could Reshape The Tech Patent Landscape”

Date:  Fri, 2014-05-02

NPR Reports, “A California jury is deliberating a major lawsuit between tech titans Apple and Samsung. Apple is suing Samsung for patent infringement and asking for a whopping $2 billion in damages. But even if Apple prevails in this case, later this year the Supreme Court could undermine the victory by calling Apple’s patents and thousands of others into question.”

M·CAM’s Dr. David Martin was interviewed for the story:

“There have been countless ways in which that has been done ”” not only over the last several decades, but quite frankly the idea of settling up accounts and confirming order and fulfillment is actually something that’s been done probably as long as humans have traded,” he says. What is significant about this case, Martin says, is that there are thousands of patents like this ”” someone has an old idea and says he has a way to do it on a computer or over the Internet. Martin says many small tech companies were encouraged by investors to patent as much as they could. “Somehow or another more patents means you’re going to be of greater value to the ultimate acquirer, be it Twitter or Facebook or Google or Apple or whoever else,” Martin says.”

Read the full article: HERE

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.