2021: The Year In Review For IP Developments

Welcome to 2022. I hope everyone is enjoying a healthy start to the new year, in spite of the continued challenges we all face due to the seemingly ceaseless COVID-19 pandemic. As we all know, the beginning of a new year is a time to take stock on what has happened in our lives in the year that just ended, while resolving to do better on as many fronts as possible in the year to come. In that spirit, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at 2021 in the context of this column, both in terms of topics covered, as well as with respect to some of the personalities that we were lucky enough to engage with over the course of the year. Our slice of the legal profession is brimming with interesting people from a wide variety of backgrounds, each contributing in their own way to the dynamic IP law mosaic we are collectively creating as an IP legal community. Because of everyone’s efforts, 2021 did not disappoint in terms of IP developments for us to digest and discuss.

To start, it is quite amazing to me just how many interviews I was able to conduct with IP leaders in 2021. From the head IP counsel of one of the world’s largest technology companies, to practitioners operating on the bleeding edge of IP practice, to a former federal judge, to each and every interviewee — the generosity of spirit of so many in our profession was reflected in the willingness of such a wide cross-section of personalities to share their thoughts and insights with this audience. Their willingness to share — and this audience’s willingness to listen — is humbling. I can only hope that 2022 affords me the opportunity to present a similarly diverse and interesting collection of interviewees for this audience to engage with. As always, I am always open to interviewing those with an interesting perspective to share, so please do not hesitate to reach out. I promise that the process is as easy as I can make it in terms of conducting the interviews and getting the columns published.

While the interviews I was able to conduct in 2021 were important, other important issues were addressed over the course of the year. Issues of importance to the younger generation were addressed, from the rise of NIL exploitation as an option for struggling student-athletes to help generate income, to the importance for 1L law students interested in IP careers to relate their 1L coursework to their future practice area of choice. Likewise, there was a continued focus on efforts to confront and deal with the growing threat posed by counterfeit goods, both to the health of consumers and the bottom lines of brand owners.

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In that vein, the importance of China as a player on the global IP scene continued as a topic of discussion on these pages, including with respect to the efforts of large Chinese companies like Huawei on the patent monetization front. I also addressed the progress of the Gulf States, primarily Saudi Arabia, in developing an IP infrastructure that will foster an ability to compete and invest globally as those states transition from oil-based economies. And in a series of columns that I would like to repeat with other companies, a deeper look at one the pandemic era’s greatest success stories, Peloton, was undertaken. (No, I do not have anything to add on the Mr. Big fiasco, even as I think Peloton remains a fascinating case study in terms of how they are approaching their IP litigation strategy.)

One of my goals with this column is to try to present a cross-section of IP issues that I think may be of interest to this audience. While my practice may skew towards the patent side of things, I do make a concerted effort to develop columns of interest relating to the other IP disciplines, primarily trademark and copyright. To that end, I am always looking for good stories on those fronts — and 2021 did not disappoint in that respect. From the Satan shoes to the SCOTUS decision in Google v. Oracle, there was plenty to discuss on the nonpatent front as well. I am sure there will be more such stories to write about in 2022 as well. For all the soft IP drama, I still couldn’t resist writing about a real dramatic adaptation of an interesting patent litigation story — especially one streaming on Netflix.

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Lastly, the undisputed champion topic of interest for this column in 2021 was the impact of litigation finance on our work as IP lawyers, particularly in the area of patent litigation. And I can guarantee that this issue will remain top of mind for patent owners, patent defendants, and their counsel into 2022 and beyond. Simply put, there remains tremendous interest on the part of the investment community in investing into uncorrelated assets like litigation claims — and for all their complexity, the convexity of patent litigation risks and rewards continues to place patent litigation claims front and center for litigation funders. Here is hoping that 2022 brings us a lot more opportunity to discuss interesting issues across the world of IP, coupled with all of the COVID-19 challenges fading away as quickly as possible. Thank you as always for your continued readership. And please feel free to let me know of any topics you are interested in seeing discussed as we move forward in what we can all hope will be a better year than the one that we just left behind.

Please feel free to send comments or questions to me at [email protected] or via Twitter: @gkroub. Any topic suggestions or thoughts are most welcome.

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Gaston Kroub lives in Brooklyn and is a founding partner of Kroub, Silbersher & Kolmykov PLLC, an intellectual property litigation boutique, and Markman Advisors LLC, a leading consultancy on patent issues for the investment community. Gaston’s practice focuses on intellectual property litigation and related counseling, with a strong focus on patent matters. You can reach him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter: @gkroub.

Topics

2022, COVID-19, Gaston Kroub, Intellectual Property