As part of our ongoing series examining the ecosystem necessary to bring technology to market, David French, a senior Canadian patent attorney with 35 years of experience, now provides a further of his commentaries on the importance to a company of protecting its Intellectual Property.
By David French
In the last blog post in this series we identified how “loopholes” can seriously undermine the value of a patent. In an earlier post, we touched upon the novelty requirement for obtaining a patent. In this post, we address in greater detail the reality of the existence of prior art and its impact on potential patent coverage.
The Golden Rule of patent law is that a patent claim cannot take away from the public anything that was previously available to the public. That is, the claims of the patent, defining the exclusive rights of the owner, cannot describe or read on anything that existed previously. If they did, the patent could be asserted against something that was previously available. That is prohibited.
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By Alexandra Reid
As many of you probably already know, Google Plus finally rolled out brand pages this week. Upon first review, brand pages look very similar to Facebook pages, but a closer look reveals added benefits that will help businesses make closer connections with their supporters.
I’ve read lots of articles this week about whether or not businesses should create a brand page right away. Google Plus has been growing at an astounding rate, hitting 20 million users by its first weekend, and millions have joined since. Google Plus is now the fastest growing social network, already boasting 40 million users and attracting large enterprises including Pepsi, Toyota, H&M, CNN and the Dallas Cowboys. As Business 2 Community puts it, “Facebook may be at the center of the social world, but Google is positioned firmly at the center of the business world.” For these reasons, and because of its unique features, I think businesses should begin establishing their presence on the channel as soon as possible.
Google Plus brand pages are similar to Facebook in both appearance and layout, but some publications, such as Wired, have argued that Google Plus trumps Facebook, and even Twitter, in functionality.
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This is the third article in a continuing series that will feature case studies and anecdotal stories from entrepreneurs, consultants and veteran marketers about their efforts to develop, implement and measure marketing programs to bring technology to market and grow market share. We invite your feedback.
By Francis Moran and Leo Valiquette
Many startups with aspirations of grandeur have fallen prey to the temptation to call themselves a “leading provider of …”. But at Teamly, founder and CEO Scott Allison and his team appreciate that earning the label is a “big hairy audacious goal” which takes a lot of hard work and no shortage of hustling.
Teamly is a two-year-old startup which has brought to market an innovative productivity and project management tool which it delivers through a Software-as-a-Service (Saas) model. Or, as described in the company’s vision statement, “Teamly provides online teamwork software that helps businesses be more successful through more aligned and effective people.”
It’s a compelling value proposition at a time when the typical workplace is filled with more distractions than ever which erode productivity and throw the best laid plans out the window. But productivity tools are legion and many fail to live up to their hype.
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This is the next entry in our “Best of” series, in which we venture deep into the vault to replay blog opinion and insight that has withstood the test of time. Today’s post hails from January, 2009. We welcome your feedback.
By Danny Sullivan
At inmedia, we frequently position ourselves against those whose perspective is that PR is “all about relationships.” And, while I wholeheartedly stand by our mantra that it is the ability to convey a story and not the relationship that dictates PR success, it cannot be denied that relationships are still important. They are even more relevant from the perspective of a PR firm’s clients than for the PR firm itself. PR firms come and go but, assuming a company sticks around, its relationship with its target media will last forever.
This week, one of my clients traveled to New York to meet face to face with a group of editors from a key trade publication that covers his company’s market. Was this meeting at the request of the editors? No, we brokered it from our end. Was it for an article they were working on? No. So why was this meeting happening? Simple. It was for the relationship.
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By Alexandra Reid
Developing relationships with influential bloggers, and those who comment on their blogs, is an excellent way to develop your online clout and community. While you spend time tweeting and posting status updates to Facebook and LinkedIn, don’t overlook the conversations taking place through the comments section on blog posts about topics that matter to you. Blogs are often where great ideas are born, and commenting on thought provoking posts helps others see you as a thought leader in your space.
However, poorly crafted comments that add no value to the conversation can have the opposite effect, signaling to others that you are a grammatically and/or spelling impaired sheep with nothing new to contribute to your space. Even worse, poorly written comments can be flagged as spam, damaging your reputation and potentially hindering your ability to comment on future posts.
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Breaching academias ivory towers
November 07, 2011 by Jason Flick
Past posts in this series have explored the complexities of turning intellectual property created in a university into a flourishing business. Some of the issues are specific to Canada, but, generally speaking, there is no reason why we can’t do more with what we have […]
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October roundup: What does it take to get technology to market?
November 04, 2011 by Alexandra Reid
Thank you for being with us for the ninth month of our new blog. In case you missed them, here is a recap of our posts from October […]
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Technology reporters on the record: how PR flacks annoy them
November 04, 2011 by Linda Forrest
“You’re doing it wrong” can be an irritated admonishment of your practices or a helpful push in the direction of improvement. It’s all a matter of how you see the world, whether you’re a glass half full or a glass half empty kind of person […]
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Marketing: Steady as she goes
November 03, 2011 by Francis Moran
If there’s one thing more difficult than persuading technology company executives they need a well-researched, well-funded, coherent and integrated marketing strategy, it’s persuading them to stick to that strategy […]
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A small business guide to working with government
November 02, 2011 by John Craig
On Oct. 17, the Government Technology Exhibition and Conference (GTEC) honoured some of the best innovations in government technology at the municipal, provincial and federal levels. Our client, the City of Calgary, was runner-up in […]
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How stale is your contact list?
November 01, 2011 by Leo Valiquette
There is no question that we PR types are often taken to task for blitzing the world with news of little relevance or importance or, at least, for failing to ensure that the news is relevant and important to the hapless targets in range of our scatter guns […]
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Meet Genevolve Vision Diagnostics
October 31, 2011 by Francis Moran
When a startup’s underlying intellectual property has already been hailed by Time Magazine as one of the year’s top 10 scientific discoveries, it may foster the perception that the road to commercial success is already assured […]
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PR frights and hauntings
October 28, 2011 by Linda Forrest
In honour of Halloween, this post is a round-up of the frightful ways that PR can scare away prospects and editors and how bad PR haunts those that neglect to adhere to best practices. Boo!
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By David French
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The Future of A&R – Walabe : [...] http://francis-moran.com/marketing-strategy/top-10-questions-every-strategic-communicator-should-ask... [...]
Traditional Marketing is Dead – Long Live Bikini Waxer Marketing | Scalexl : [...] pointed out by Alexandra Reid on the Francis Moran website content marketing is becoming more and more like journalism. So, it is not just about the content, [...]
It’s Summertime…and the Networking is Easy? | THE MERRAINE BRAIN : [...] In fact, summer is perhaps one of the times least used to network, yet at the same time has shown to be the most productive time to network. People tend to be in a brighter mood compared to during the gloomy winters-especially where I am from in England! Networking needs to be fun and not approached as another chore, like mowing the lawn. (http://francis-moran.com/marketing-strategy/social-media-strategy-why-meeting-in-the-real-world-matt...) [...]