University IP: Spotlight on Emory

With our partner Technology Transfer Tactics, we've rolled out a comprehensive list of U.S. universities and their as-current patent portfolios. You're one click away from seeing a given school's U.S. patents and patent applications from the most recent.

Take a look, find your school.

Founded in 1836, Atlanta-based Emory University is ranked #18 among national universities (U.S. News & World Report).

Among the Faculty--

* Novelist Salman Rushdie
* His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama
* Former President Jimmy Carter
* Natasha Trethewey, 2007 Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry.

And Research (FY 2008)--

* $411.2 million in total research funding awards
* $387.5 million in health sciences research funding awards
* $300.2 million in federal research funding awards.



Emory's inventors have been busy, generating a total of 430 as of this date-- see them here from the most recent.



Most recently Emory won United States Patent 7,524,936 for Mitogenic oxygenase regulators on 4/28/2009:

The present invention relates to new genes encoding for the production of novel nox enzyme proteins involved in generation of reactive oxygen intermediates that affect cell division. The present invention also provides vectors containing these genes, cells transfected with these vectors, antibodies raised against these novel proteins, kits for detection, localization and measurement of these genes and proteins, and methods to determine the activity of drugs to affect the activity of the proteins of the present invention.

The inventors, both from Georgia, are:

1. David Lambeth
2. Gaungjie Chang.
   

A big reason Emory has IP muscle is its highly ranked graduate and professional schools-- read more here.

See our blog all this coming week, we'll be highlighting the IP of America's colleges & universities.

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Here are Emory's patents as a short URL, for our friends using Twitter: http://cli.gs/EmoryPatents

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University IP: Spotlight on Va Tech

With our partner Technology Transfer Tactics, we've rolled out a comprehensive list of U.S. universities and their as-current patent portfolios. You're one click away from seeing a given school's U.S. patents and patent applications from the most recent.

Take a look, find your school.

Founded in 1872, the details about Virginia Tech--

• Located in Blacksburg, Virginia
• Nine colleges and graduate school
• 60 bachelor's degree programs
• 140 master's and doctoral degree programs
• 30,000+ full-time students
• 16:1 student-faculty ratio
• Main campus includes more than 125 buildings, 2,600 acres, and an airport
• Ranked 42nd in university research in the United States.
  

VT has more patents than there are days in a year, a total of 394 as of this date-- see them here from the most recent.

Most recently VT won United States Patent 7,524,535 for Method of protecting metals from corrosion using thiol compounds on 4/28/2009:

This invention relates to a method of coating a metal surface by applying a solution containing an alkanethiol compound and a solvent to a metal surface, allowing the formation of a self-assembled monolayer, which presents as a robust barrier to corrosion. The alkanethiol compounds have a general formula, R(CH2)nSH, where R represents methyl, carboxyl, hydroxyl, formyl, or amide; n is in the range of 7 to 21, preferably in the range of 12 to 18.

The four people behind this invention are:

1. Hyung-joon Kim
   
2. Jinmingl Zhang
3. Richard Gandour
4. Roy Hoan Zhoon.

VT has a Corporate Research Center, too, that's home to 100 companies. Check it out here.

See our blog all this coming week, we'll be highlighting the IP of America's colleges & universities.

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Here are VT's patents as a short URL, for our friends using Twitter: http://cli.gs/VTpatents

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University IP: Spotlight on Yale

With our partner Technology Transfer Tactics, we've rolled out a comprehensive list of U.S. universities and their as-current patent portfolios. You're one click away from seeing a given school's U.S. patents and patent applications from the most recent.

Take a look, find your school.

New Haven, Connecticut-based Yale University comprises three major academic components: Yale College (the undergraduate program), the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and the professional schools. In addition, Yale encompasses a wide array of centers and programs, libraries, museums, and administrative support offices. Approximately 11,250 students attend Yale, and it was founded in 1701.

Yale has a broad and deep array of patents/patent applications, a total of 519 as of this date-- see them here from the most recent.

Most recently Yale won United States Patent Application 20090099097 for ENZYME INHIBITION on 4/16/2009:

Peptide-based compounds including heteroatom-containing, three-membered rings efficiently and selectively inhibit specific activities of N-terminal nucleophile (Ntn) hydrolases. The activities of those Ntn having multiple activities can be differentially inhibited by the compounds described. For example, the chymotrypsin-like and PGPH activities of the 20S proteasome can be selectively inhibited with the inventive compounds. The peptide-based compounds include an electron withdrawing group adjacent to the ring functionality, and the peptide include at least three peptide units. Among other therapeutic utilities, the peptide-based compounds exhibit anti-inflammatory and inhibition of cell proliferation, involving therapeutic applications for these compounds.

The four inventors for this IP are:

1. Craig Crews
2. Mikael Elofsson
3. Ute Splittgerber
4. Kyung Bo Kim.

Yale has a formidable Tech Transfer office. Yale has parlayed its intellectual property into more than thirty start-ups garnering over $3.3 billion in equity investment.

See our blog all this coming week, we'll be highlighting the IP of America's colleges & universities.

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Here are Yale's patents as a short URL, for our friends using Twitter: http://cli.gs/YalePatents

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University IP: Spotlight on the University of Akron

With our partner Technology Transfer Tactics, we've rolled out a comprehensive list of U.S. universities and their as-current patent portfolios. You're one click away from seeing a given school's U.S. patents and patent applications from the most recent.

Take a look, find your school.

The University of Akron was founded in 1870 as Buchtel College, and has 26,000 students representing 44 U.S. states and 79 foreign countries. Located within metropolitan Akron, Ohio, the school has 80 buildings on 218 acres.

And the school, led by its 15th president, Dr. Luis M. Proenza, is an IP powerhouse, with 292 patents and patent applications to its name as of today-- see them here from the most recent.


Most recently UA won United States Patent Application 20090093585 for ABSORBENT NON-WOVEN FIBROUS MATS AND PROCESS FOR PREPARING SAME on 4/9/2009:

The present invention relates to liquid entrapping devices (e.g., absorbent non-woven fibrous mats) and to a process for preparing such devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to mechanically strong absorbent materials made from such liquid entrapping devices (e.g., non-woven fibrous mats) and to a method for preparing same. In one embodiment, a liquid entrapping device of the present invention comprises at least one hydrophilic elastomeric fibrous component (HEFC) and at least one wetting agent component. In another embodiment, a liquid entrapping device of the present invention comprise at least one hydrophilic elastomeric fibrous component (HEFC), at least one absorbent component, and at least one wetting agent component. In one instance, the wetting agent component of the present invention is contained on and/or within the fibers and/or nanofibers that form the liquid entrapping device (e.g., a non-woven fibrous mat) of the present invention.

Earned with SNS Nano Fiber Technology, LLC, the inventors are:

1. Daniel J. Smith
2. Horst Ring.

Not surprisingly, UA is at the top of Ohio public universities regarding Tech Transfer.

See our blog all this coming week, we'll be highlighting the IP of America's colleges & universities.

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Here are UA's patents as a short URL, for our friends from Twitter: http://cli.gs/UofAkronPatents

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We're on Twitter: www.twitter.com/inventionsofman

University IP: Spotlight on East Carolina University

With our partner Technology Transfer Tactics, we've rolled out a comprehensive list of U.S. universities and their as-current patent portfolios. You're one click away from seeing a given school's U.S. patents and patent applications from the most recent.

Take a look, find your school.

In 1907, East Carolina was founded to alleviate the desperate shortage of teachers in the eastern part of North Carolina. Their College of Education continues to supply the nation with some of its best educators, and now it has been joined by programs of high distinction in health care and the fine and performing arts. The university is no longer a small school but an engine of economic development and a hotbed of discovery-- witness their IP collection, currently 54 patents strong.

Today, East Carolina is a constituent institution of the University of North Carolina and offers 104 bachelor’s degree programs, 74 master’s degree programs, 4 specialist degree programs, 1 first-professional MD program, and 17 doctoral programs in their professional colleges and schools, Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences, and the Brody School of Medicine.


Most recently ECU won United States Patent 7,507,410 for Monoclonal antibody DS6, tumor-associated antigen CA6, and methods of use thereof on 3/24/2009:

The present application describes a monoclonal antibody selected from the group consisting of monoclonal antibody DS6, monoclonal antibodies that specifically bind to the antigen or epitope bound by monoclonal antibody DS6, and fragments of the foregoing that specifically bind to the antigen or epitope bound by monoclonal antibody DS6. Methods of use of such antibodies and the isolated antigen bound by such antibodies are also described.

The all-NC inventor team is:

1. Anne Elizabeth Kellogg
2. Diane A. Semer.

Take a look at the ECU page on Research and Graduate Studies, from where much of their discovery emanates.

See our blog all this coming week, we'll be highlighting the IP of America's colleges & universities.

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Here are East Carolina's patents as a short URL, for our friends from Twitter: http://cli.gs/EastCarolinaUnivPatents

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We're on Twitter: www.twitter.com/inventionsofman

The Patents of America's Universities, Starting with Penn State

With our partner Technology Transfer Tactics, we've rolled out a comprehensive list of U.S. universities and their as-current patent portfolios. You're one click away from seeing a given school's U.S. patents and patent applications from the most recent.

Take a look, find your school.

Now let's go to Happy Valley for a moment. Penn State, founded in 1855, was created at the request of the Pennsylvania State Agricultural Society. The goal was to apply scientific principles to farming, a radical departure from the traditional curriculum grounded in mathematics, rhetoric, and classical languages.

Flash forward to today, and Penn State has a total enrollment of over 84,000 across its 24 campuses, placing it among the ten largest public universities in the United States. Penn State offers more than 160 majors and administers a $1.6 billion endowment.

And IP? They've been very prolific, with 777 patents and patent applications in the USA. Here they are, listed from the most recent.

Most recently they won United States Patent 7,516,759 for Autonomous Moving Microstructures on 4/14/2009:

A microstructure includes a catalyst region, and a non-catalyst region proximate to the catalyst region. The catalyst region induces a chemical reaction of a fluid component when the microstructure is located within a fluid medium containing the fluid component. The chemical reaction induces relative motion between the fluid medium and the microstructure, which can be used to provide, for example, autonomous directional movement, rotation of microgears, microfluidic devices, and novel sensor configurations. In one example, a palladium catalyst is used, and the fluid medium is an aqueous solution of hydrogen peroxide.

The all-Pennsylvanian inventor team is:

1. Walter Paxton
2. Ayusman Sen
3. Thomas Mallouk
4. Jeffrey Catchmark.

Given this broad and deep patent portfolio, the Penn State Tech Transfer office must be very busy.

See our blog all this coming week, we'll be highlighting the IP of America's colleges & universities.

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Here are Penn State's patents as a short URL, for our friends from Twitter: http://cli.gs/PennStatePatents

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We're on Twitter: www.twitter.com/inventionsofman

IP Newsflash Adds FPO SearchBox

IPNewsflash.com is the 100th Website to Add the FreePatentsOnline SearchBox

The FreePatentsOnline SearchBox, which is available for free at www.citepatents.com, now has been provisioned now 100 times. The 100th website to add the widget is IP Newsflash, a popular news site about Intellectual Property based in Cologne, Germany, but with a worldwide audience. The Patent SearchBox is here: www.ipnewsflash.com/patent_search.php.

"What’s interesting about patent systems around the world is they not only indicate the company behind a patent-- called the Assignee-- but also the inventor, or inventors,” said Erik Reeves, CEO of FreePatentsOnline. “A patent’s Assignee may change over time, as a company is acquired or otherwise changes form. But the inventor is always honored; his or her name is engraved in granite for posterity. In our blog, we highlight inventors, and expose some of the inspiration behind their work.”


“We wanted to make it very easy for our users to initiate a patent search from our website,” said Rolf Claessen, CEO of IP Newsflash and a patent attorney with Freischem. “We added the FreePatentsOnline SearchBox in about thirty seconds by grabbing the HTML at www.citepatents.com, and our visitors have given us plaudits for making patent search easily accessible across the millions of U.S., European and Japanese documents at FreePatentsOnline.”

Any patent in the FreePatentsOnline database can be turned into a customized, virtual patent plaque with just a mouseclick. This is called the “Plaque It!” feature.

The company behind FreePatentsOnline is Patents Online, LLC. The firm also offers a property for power-users called www.sumobrain.com. It is completely free, too, and has additional features such as the ability to store up to 20,000 patent documents in named folders.

About IP Newsflash
IP Newsflash is an IP meta-information portal that browses your information channels for you and presents only relevant, recent and customizable IP information on a single page.

IP Newsflash is for time-hungry patent professionals who want to stay up to date but dislike the tedious task of browsing through countless sources of information.

This website brings to you news as well as notices and caselaw from the European Patent Office, the US Patent and Trademark Office, the Office for Harmonization for the Internal Market (European Trademark Office), the German Patent and Trademark Office, WIPO, the Japanese Patent Office, the Swiss Patent Office, the Chinese Patent Office, the European Court of Justice, the Court of First Instance (EU), the German Federal Patent Court, the German Federal High Court of Justice, the US Supreme Court, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on one single page.

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255 Patents for Invisalign

Santa Clara, CA-based Align Technology (NASDAQ: ALGN) offers:

"Your Invisalign treatment will consist of a series of aligners that you switch out about every two weeks. Each aligner is individually manufactured with exact calculations to gradually shift your teeth into place. And since your Invisalign system is custom-made for your teeth and your teeth only, with a plan devised by you and your dentist or orthodontist, you know you'll end up with a smile that truly fits."

The firm generates $300 million in annual revenue, and was founded in 1997.

They have a total of 255 patents, listed here from the most recent.

Zia Chishti, one co-founder, is credited for four of them.

Kelsey Wirth, the other co-founder, is credited for twenty of them.




In March 2009, they earned U.S. patent application 20090061382 , Tooth Movement Tracking System (inventor Huafeng Wen of Redwood City, CA).

A method for determining movement of a tooth model from a first position to a second position, comprising: marking one or more points on the tooth model at the first position using a laser; capturing a first image of the tooth model at the first position; identifying first locations of the points on the tooth model in the first image; capturing a second image of the tooth model at the second position; identifying second locations of the points on the tooth model in the second image; and determining a difference in the first locations of the points on the tooth model in the first image and the second locations of the points on the tooth model in the second image.

Since their start, Align has trained more that 55,000 doctors around the world, started more than 940,000 patients in treatment, and made about 42 million unique Invisalign aligners-- an IP as well as a commercial success story.

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Have a Patent/Know About a Patent you want us to spotlight in our blog? Email plaque [@] freepatentsonline.com. And check out www.freepatentsonline.com: All the Inventions of Mankind

Quixote: Impact Cushions & More

Chicago-based Quixote Corporation is a leading developer and manufacturer of energy-absorbing highway crash cushions, electronic wireless sensing and measuring devices, weather forecasting stations, computerized highway advisory radio, flexible post delineators and other transportation safety products and services. Since its 1969 founding it is estimated that its crash cushions have saved over 50,000 lives worldwide and prevented countless injuries.

Probably you've seen their ubiquitous yellow barrels and other impact-absorbers on highways around America. The firm generates about $100 million in annual revenue, and is QUIX on NASDAQ.

The firm has seven patents, see them here.

The last patent was #6,062,766 in the year 2000, for a Raised Pavement Marker:

A raised pavement marker includes a reflector assembly that is resiliently supported by a membrane, that in turn is supported by a frame. The reflector assembly includes a skirt that overlaps the membrane, thereby allowing large-area reflectors and low-angle ramp surfaces. A vent is formed between the skirt and the membrane, and this vent is resistant to clogging. Locating elements are placed on the frame of the pavement marker to assist in proper installation of the marker in a recess of a roadway, such that all portions of the frame are positioned below the surface of the roadway. Indentations allow the installer to gauge the level of adhesive in the recess.

More IP likely is on the way from Quixote, as they've moved from just low-tech crash barriers to adding weather and traffic sensors, with their Surface Systems division.

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Have a Patent/Know About a Patent you want us to spotlight in our blog? Email plaque [@] freepatentsonline.com. And check out www.freepatentsonline.com: All the Inventions of Mankind

Cligs: Short URLs with analytics

The question we get, more than any other, is how to shorten URLs from FreePatentsOnline.com.

We think the answer is www.cli.gs.



CONSIDER: Coca-Cola's most recent patent (Fixed Displacement Pump from 4/16/2009; about faster filling of bottles on the assembly line) is a string like this: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2009/0097998.html. Not too bad, but in the age of Twitter, shorter is better. With Cligs, it's: http://cli.gs/NpggE3.


Or all the 1,000+ patents of Atlanta-based Coca Cola, which would be a string like this http://www.freepatentsonline.com/result.html?p=1&edit_alert=&srch=xprtsrch&query_txt=AN%2F%22coca+cola%22&uspat=on&usapp=on&date_range=all&stemming=on&sort=chron&search=Search, except with Cligs it's: http://cli.gs/QJAR7Q.

This Coca-Cola query comes from our Advanced Search page here, where Assignee Name= Coca Cola (AN/"coca cola"), and we asked for all U.S. patents and patent applications, from most recent.

What sets Cligs apart:

Cligs keeps track of the following in real time:

• Hits time: when your traffic came in.
• Geographical location of your visitors: where are your visitors located?
• Search engine bots: have the search engines found your links? They need to so they can count the link towards your ranking.
• Social media monitoring: for both the short URL and its destination, Cligs tracks the following:
  • Twitter mentions: Who tweeted about your link?
  • Friendfeeed mentions: Who shared your link on Friendfeed?
  • Blog links: Which blogs wrote about your short URL?
  • Web links: Not just blogs, but all websites: who is linking to you?
  • Blog comments: Who is writing about your short URL in blog comments around the web?
  • Delicious saves: for the destination only, Cligs tracks who saved the link to their delicious account.
• Referral statistics: which links actually sent you traffic? It is not enough just to know who links to you but to also know who sends traffic.

And only on Cligs can you provide alternative destinations URLs that different visitors from different countries are forwarded to. This means you can target your marketing and promotions on a per-country basis and capture the value of all the traffic going through your links.

Check out Cligs today-- know what Twitter users know already; shorter can be better.

Patent Faceoff: Samsung vs. Nokia

Samsung (South Korea) is the world's single largest conglomerate. It was founded in 1938.

Nokia is a Finnish multinational communications corporation, headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki, and was founded in 1865.



Samsung has a total of 115,399 patents as of today in the U.S., Europe and Japan-- they're all here, in chronological sort order.

Nokia has a totalof 36,780 patents in the U.S., Europe and Japan, listed here from the most recent.

Samsung's most recent invention is United States Patent Application 20090094644, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING SERVICE GUIDE IN A MOBILE BROADCASTING SYSTEM:

A method and apparatus for providing an SG [Service Guide] in a mobile broadcasting system are provided. The apparatus and method include a terminal for receiving a first SG, for acquiring reception information about a second SG from the first SG, if a service fragment list extracted from the first SG includes information about at least one second SG different from the first SG, and for receiving the second SG based on the acquired reception information.

The inventors are all from Korea--

1. Jung, Bo-sun (Seongnam-si, KR)
2. Lee, Kook-heui (Yongin-si, KR)
3. Hwang, Sung-oh (Yongin-si, KR)
4. Kim, Hyun-chul (Suwon-si, KR).

So there you have it, for this week's Patent Faceoff:

Samsung: 115,399
versus
Nokia: 36,780.

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Have a Patent/Know About a Patent you want us to spotlight in our blog? Email plaque [@] freepatentsonline.com. And check out http://www.freepatentsonline.com/ : All the Inventions of Mankind.

The United Inventors Association & Patrick Raymond

Patrick Raymond is the man behind U.S. Patent Application 20060272087, Shower Curtain Holder, which is from ShowerBow--

A shower curtain holder having a body having a bowed shape and a hook at its upper end which is adapted to engage a shower curtain rod. The holder is placed on the rod inside of the shower curtain. Its size and shape is such that the shower curtain is held away from the person taking the shower. The holder includes a counterweight near or at its top to help in keeping the holder, and thus the curtain as well, away from the person within the shower. Another shower curtain holder can have a member that may or may not flexible. The flexible member can have ends displaced at a distance on the shower rod. Also, the holder can include at least one of a counterweight system, a dynamic or adjustable counterweight system, or a weight offset from the center of the member.


There's a clever video on the ShowerBow site explaining the product.

Patrick is now the man behind the increasingly high profile United Inventors Association (UIA):

Since 1990, the United Inventors Association is the national membership organization dedicated to inventor education and support. As a 501(c)3 non-profit, the UIA offers non-commercial information to inventors and Certification to local support groups and invention service providers who comply with rigorous professional and ethical standards. We do not endorse any party, nor do we take part in commercial transactions between inventors and local groups or service providers.

From their website, big news for this month:

On April 24, 2009, the UIA will release a ground-breaking educational series covering every stage of the inventing process. Hosted by Steve Greenberg, this is your opportunity to learn from 16 of America's top invention industry experts who have collectively reviewed and launched hundreds of new products earning millions of dollars in sales!

Filmed at the Enventys Studios, this original UIA production entitled “What Every Inventor Needs to Know” is an insider’s look at achieving success, as well as a cautionary tale on what to expect -- and traps to avoid -- during the inventor's journey.

We're guessing that Inventor Raymond will take the UIA to the very center of the national stage in regards to helping inventors.

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Have a Patent/Know About a Patent you want us to spotlight in our blog? Email plaque [@] freepatentsonline.com. And check out www.freepatentsonline.com: All the Inventions of Mankind

The E-Cigarette

Electronic (smokeless) cigarettes are gaining the interest of consumers and regulators alike.

The maker of one e-cigarette, Smoking Everywhere (pictured above), claims:

"Fact: Smoking Everywhere electronic cigarette is the healthier way to smoke."

The FDA has opened an investigation and has refused to allow e-cigarettes, e-cigars and e-pipes to cross the border because they're considered new drugs that require FDA approval. The agency is under pressure from public health advocates, including New Jersey Democrat Sen. Frank Lautenberg, to take electronic cigarettes off the market until they are proved to be safe.

The key patent appears to be AN AEROSOL ELECTRONIC CIGARETTE, an EP application (EP20050729107) from December 2006.

The present invention relates to an electronic atomization cigarette which only contains nicotine without harmful tar. The electronic atomization cigarette includes a shell and a mouthpiece. The external wall of the shell has an air inlet. An electronic circuit board, a normal pressure cavity, a sensor, a vapor-liquid separator, an atomizer, a liquid-supplying bottle are sequentially provided within the shell, wherein the electronic circuit board comprises an electronic switching circuit and a high frequency generator. A stream passage of the sensor is provided on one side of the sensor, and a negative pressure cavity is provided in the sensor. The atomizer and the liquid-supplying bottle is in contact with each other. An atomization cavity is arranged in the atomizer. A retaining ring for locking the liquid-supplying bottle is provided between one side of the liquid-supplying bottle and the shell, and an aerosol passage is provided on the other side of the liquid-supplying bottle. The air inlet, normal pressure cavity, vapor-liquid separator, atomizer, aerosol passage, gas vent and mouthpiece are sequentially interconnected. The advantages of the present invention include smoking without tar, significantly reducing the cancerogenic risk, Furthermore, users still feel as if they are smoking and experiencing the same excitement, and the cigarette is no need to be lit and is no fire risk.

The inventor is Hong Kong-based Hon Lik, Chairman of Ruyan Holdings/Ruyan America.

EP PATENT

EP1736065A1

Hon Lik

It seems that Ruyan will be aggressive in asserting its patent rights, witness their February 2009 press release entitled Ruyan Asserts Patent Rights to E-cigarette in Key China Court Ruling.

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Have a Patent/Know About a Patent you want us to spotlight in our blog? Email plaque [@] freepatentsonline.com. And check out www.freepatentsonline.com: All the Inventions of Mankind

Patent Faceoff: Pfizer vs. Novartis

Global pharma Novartis has 1,554 patents, see them all listed here from the most recent. Based in Switzerland, the firm has annual revenue of $43 billion.

NYC-based Pfizer, a key Novartis competitor, has substantially more patents despite being only slightly bigger ($48 billion in annual revenue)-- a total of 6,067 patents as of today-- they're all here, in chronological sort order.

Pfizer's most recent patent took almost four years to earn-- it was filed on 6/15/2005 and was published on 4/17/2009. It's U.S. Patent 7,514,464, Substituted Arylpyrazoles:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a combination product comprising a pyrazole derivative of formula (I) in combination with one or more biologically active compounds as described herein, particularly anti-parasitic agents. The compounds of interest of formula (I) are cyclopropylarylpyrazoles and, more particularly, the invention relates to 1-aryl-4-cyclopropylpyrazoles in which there is at least one fluorine attached to the cyclopropyl ring.

The inventors for Substituted Arylpyrazoles are in Sandwich, Great Britain:

1. Dennis Billen (Sandwich, GB)
2. Nathan Chubb (Sandwich, GB)
3. David Gethin (Sandwich, GB)
4. Kim Hall (Sandwich, GB)
5. Lee Roberts (Sandwich, GB)
6. Nigel Walshe (Sandwich, GB).

So there you have it, for this week's Patent Faceoff:

Pfizer: 6,067
versus
Novartis: 1,554.

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Have a Patent/Know About a Patent you want us to spotlight in our blog? Email plaque [@] freepatentsonline.com. And check out http://www.freepatentsonline.com/ : All the Inventions of Mankind.

Pill Sensor: You Swallow It

Take a look at U.S. Patent Application 20090088618 from last week, System and Method for Manufacturing a Swallowable Sensor Device:

Methods and systems for manufacturing a swallowable sensor device are disclosed. Such a method includes mechanically coupling a plurality of internal components, wherein the plurality of internal components includes a printed circuit board having a plurality of projections extending radially outward. A cavity is filled with a potting material, and the mechanically coupled components are inserted into the cavity. The cavity may be pre-filled with the potting material, or may be filled after the mechanically coupled components have been inserted therein. A distal end of each projection abuts against a wall of the cavity thereby preventing the potting material from covering each distal end. The cavity is sealed with a cap causing the potting material to harden within the sealed cavity to form a housing of the swallowable sensor device, wherein the distal end of each projection is exposed to an external environment of the swallowable sensor device.

The inventors are:

1. Michael Arneson (Finksburg, MD)
2. William Bandy (Gambrills, MD)
3. Roger Davenport (Plantation, FL)
4. Kevin Powell (Annapolis, MD)
5. Michael Sloan (Ellicott City, MD).

The background information in the patent filing is fascinating:

The population of the United States is aging. The first wave of the 78 million “Baby Boomers” is beginning to turn 60 years old. There has been an explosion in diabetes cases, estimated at 194 million cases worldwide today, and predicted to reach 350 million cases by year 2025. Obesity currently affects two thirds of the U.S. population. There is a rising incidence of cardiac problems for women (the number one cause of death for women). Hepatitis C will soon reach epidemic levels, infecting nearly 5 million people, more than the number of people infected with AIDS in the U.S. Thus, simple and easy diagnostic and treatment techniques are needed, especially because many of the diseases that afflict the population are chronic, requiring repeat testing and treatment over time. Such diagnostic and treatment techniques may be realized by using a swallowable sensor device that is ingested by a patient. The swallowable sensor device could be used to sense a condition and/or deliver medical treatment as it travels through the patient's gastrointestinal tract.

There's no Assignee listed for this patent but it's likely from what was Symbol Technologies' Innurvation division-- Symbol acquired Columbia, Maryland-based Matrics RFID, and Symbol in turn was acquired by Motorola.

And Schaumburg, Illinois-based, $30 billion in annual revenue Motorola (founded in 1928)? They have over 25,000 patents, see them here from the most recent.

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Have a Patent/Know About a Patent you want us to spotlight in our blog? Email plaque [@] freepatentsonline.com. And check out www.freepatentsonline.com: All the Inventions of Mankind

Discovery Calls Foul on Amazon

This patent is now at the center of a dispute between Discovery and Amazon: Electronic book security and copyright protection system, from 11/20/2007 [inventors John Hendricks, Michael Asmussen and John McCoskey]. Hendricks is the founder of Discovery.

In March of 2009 Discovery Communications Inc. said the Kindle electronic book readers from Amazon.com Inc. violate an invention represented among their eleven current patents, listed here. Discovery sued Amazon in Delaware. Discovery spokeswoman Michelle Russo said the company is seeking "fair compensation" through damages, future royalty payments and legal fees but will not seek an injunction halting the sales of the very popular Kindle.


Here's the abstract from U.S. Patent 7,298,851:

The invention, electronic book security and copyright protection system, provides for secure distribution of electronic text and graphics to subscribers and secure storage. The method may be executed at a content provider's site, at an operations center, over a video distribution system or over a variety of alternative distribution systems, at a home subsystem, and at a billing and collection system. The content provider or operations center and/or other distribution points perform the functions of manipulation and secure storage of text data, security encryption and coding of text, cataloging of books, message center, and secure delivery functions. The home subsystem connects to a secure video distribution system or variety of alternative secure distribution systems, generates menus and stores text, and transacts through communicating mechanisms. A portable book-shaped viewer is used for secure viewing of the text. A billing system performs the transaction, management, authorization, collection and payments utilizing the telephone system or a variety of alternative communication systems using secure techniques.

Here's the whole lawsuit filing in pdf format (102 pages).

And John Hendricks is an inventor of some note, with 59 current patents, listed here.

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Have a Patent/Know About a Patent you want us to spotlight in our blog? Email plaque [@] freepatentsonline.com. And check out www.freepatentsonline.com: All the Inventions of Mankind

Patent Faceoff: Anheuser-Busch vs. Marlboro

This week's Faceoff is about vices, cigarettes and beer. It's St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch versus Pittsburgh-based Marlboro (Philip Morris).

Marlboro has 40 patents, you can see them here from the most recent.


Anheuser-Busch has 197 patents as of this date, they're listed here.

On 1/8/2009, Anheuser-Busch inventors Matthew Call and Chris Luber earned U.S. Patent Application 20090008225 , Conveyor Apparatus and System:

Typical roller conveyors suffer from excess noise and frequent maintenance due to worn rollers and roller bearings. Continuous loop belt conveyors solve some of these problems, but still suffer from an inability to change the width of the conveyor belt without significant rework or adjustment. Although a narrower belt can be used without major adjustment, prior continuous loop conveyor systems still suffer from belt drift. To alleviate these problems, a belt conveyor system that easily adjusts to accommodate continuous loop belts of varying widths is provided. The system comprises a rigid conveyor frame having at least one pair of generally parallel side walls traversed by one or more support brackets. The support brackets are secured to the conveyor frame. Additionally, one or more belt guides, having at least one surface for guiding a conveyor belt, are secured to the support brackets. The system further comprises one or more belt supports each having a substantially horizontal surface for guiding the conveyor belt, wherein the belt supports are secured to the support brackets.

This patent is about more bottle throughput at the factory level.

So there you have it, for this week's Patent Faceoff:

Anheuser-Busch: 197
versus
Marlboro: 40.

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Have a Patent/Know About a Patent you want us to spotlight in our blog? Email plaque [@] freepatentsonline.com. And check out http://www.freepatentsonline.com/ : All the Inventions of Mankind.

Delta & Their Jobox

You may know Delta for their JOBOX.

Founded in the late 1940s in Jonesboro, Arkansas, the company originally made silos for the booming farming industry in the delta region of the Mississippi River. In 1961, Delta Consolidated Industries designed and manufactured the first steel truck box to address a rapidly growing demand for truck storage solutions. The firm specializes in tool storage solutions by being the first to address corrosion resistance and styling with the addition of the aluminum truck box and beveled edge lid design.

They have a total of eight patents currently, here they are.

Container with adjustable rotary lock is their most recent patent, from August 2008:

A rotary unit for use with a locking system includes: a base plate having a slot; a rotary member rotatably mounted with the base plate about a first axis of rotation, the rotary member including a plurality of fingers extending radially outwardly from a central portion thereof and an engagement portion fixed to the central portion; and a pawl member pivotally mounted with the base plate about a second axis of rotation and coupled with the connecting member. The pawl member includes an engagement projection that selectively engages the engagement portion of the rotary member to prevent rotation of the rotary member in a first rotative direction but permits rotation of the rotary member in a second rotative direction that is opposite the first rotative direction.

Here are the inventors, all from Arkansas--

• Kurt Pfitzinger (Jonesboro, AR)
• Bryan Anderson (Jonesboro, AR)
• Kelly Jones (Elkins, AR)
• Ron Eberwein (Jonesboro, AR)
• Randy Key (Jonesboro, AR).

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Have a Patent/Know About a Patent you want us to spotlight in our blog? Email plaque [@] freepatentsonline.com. And check out www.freepatentsonline.com: All the Inventions of Mankind