Clause 8

This episode features an interview with trial attorney Frank Jakes - the founder of the Intellectual Property Group at the firm of Johnson Pope in Tampa, FL. There’s a good chance that you have recently seen him questioning Joe Exotic in the Netflix documentary Tiger King. However, even before successfully representing Carole Baskin and Big Cat Rescue, Frank Jakes was already a legendary trial attorney in Tampa who handled lots of cases involving high-profile parties and interesting personalities and won many millions of dollars in verdicts. Many of those cases involved a wide variety of IP rights.

During this episode, Franks talks about:
• practicing IP law in Tampa, FL;
• his acting background;
• what makes someone a great trial lawyer;
• handling IP cases on a contingency basis;
• how IP owners should go about finding the best attorney to represent them;
• representing a computer programmer who developed the Wheel of Fortune computer game on a contingency basis;
• creatively pursuing contract and misappropriation theories in state court instead of a copyright infringement lawsuit in federal court;
• facing opponents with endless resources;
• his experience with patent infringement cases;
• representing Larry Flynt in a case involving a promise of a $1 million reward for proving who actually killed JFK;
• representing Carol Baskin and Big Cat Rescue versus Joe Exotic;
• whether he ever feared for his life after the Tiger King case; and
• much more!

The latest episode of the Clause 8 podcast features an interview with Josh Malone – the inventor of Bunch O Balloons and America’s foremost advocate for reliable patent rights. Josh came up with the idea for Bunch O Balloons to help his kids fill up 100 water balloons in less than one minute. It eventually became the most popular toy in America. However, before Bunch O Balloons even came to market, another company copied it and started selling its own versions of the product. Luckily – or so he thought at the time – Josh filed a patent application for his Bunch O Balloons invention. He did not know the enormous amount of time, money, and luck it would take to successfully enforce patents that covered his invention. This episode tells the story of what it took, including taking a trip to Bentonville, AR in the middle of the night to try to convince Walmart to stop selling knock offs of his product.

During this episode, Josh talks about:
• getting involved in the making of the documentary Invalidated that featured his story;
• the process of innovation that allowed him to invent one of America’s most popular toy products;
• strategies that he used to get patent protection for his innovation;
• the process of successfully licensing an invention for a physical product;
• how the “As seen on TV” company Telebrands copied his product and continued doing so after losing multiple court decisions;
• the patent litigation strategy that he pursued to ultimately reach a successful settlement;
• the role that the US Patent’s Office played during the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB);
• why he decided it was necessary to launch a PR campaign for patent rights and advocate for those rights on Capitol Hill and elsewhere in Washington, DC – including by literally burning patents outside of the US Patent Office;
• the enormous financial and psychological toll on inventors trying to enforce patent rights;
• the shortcomings of contingency fee arrangements and litigation financing;
• advice to other innovators who are thinking about getting patent protection; and
• much more!

This episode is the second and final part of our interview with Kevin Jakel, the founder and CEO of Unified Patents. On this episode, we continue the conversation with Kevin about how Unified Patents operates, discuss Unified Patents’ new program for targeting Standard Essential Patents (SEPs), debate whether the patent troll narrative has been overblown, talk about the patent quality problem, and delve into some other patent policy issues related to IPRs and the PTAB. We also find out what Kevin has in common with George Costanza!

Kevin Jakel is the founder and CEO of Unified Patents. Since the passage of the American Invents Act (AIA), Unified Patents has been focused on using AIA’s new post-grant proceedings to challenge patents at the PTAB that are owned by so-called non-practicing entities or “patent trolls.”

This is an amazing story of rare and impressive innovation in the patent field. It is also a story about how the AIA allowed third parties – that are not directly involved in a patent dispute - to “independently” challenge patents at the PTAB. When Unified Patents is unsuccessful in challenging a patent at the PTAB, Unified Patents’ member companies are able to separately challenge the validity of the same patent again at the PTAB or in district court. This significantly increases the costs and difficulty of trying to enforce that patent.

Either because it wants to keep patent owners on edge, does not want to provide ammunition to those who question how independently it really operates from its members, or for some other reason, Unified Patents has not publicly disclosed how it decides what patents to target. This interview with Kevin tries to resolve some of that mystery surrounding Unified Patents.

This episode is the first part of our interview with Kevin. We talk about his career, what drove him to start Unified Patents, how Unified Patents came about, and start our conversation about how Unified Patents operates.

Gene Quinn is the founder of IPWatchdog.com. It has been the leading online publication focused on intellectual property for almost twenty years. Although they don't always agree, Federal Circuit judges, Congressional staffers, and K Street follow it closely to stay abreast of latest IP policy-related developments.

During the episode, Gene discusses the serendipitous start to IPWatchdog.com, why it has been so successful, and what it's like to be read by Federal Circuit judges and other luminaries. Gene also talks about the IP policy landscape in Washington, DC and how to effectively impact the policy making process. And, Gene shares his insights regarding the state of patent eligibility, the USPTO's Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), and the future for America's patent system and innovation.

Gil Hyatt is one of the most significant American innovators in the field of personal computing - the inventor of the microprocessor. And, he has been involved in a David versus Goliath battle with the US Patent and Trademark Office for decades. Initially, Gil was able to successfully obtain patents for his innovations and license them for hundreds of millions of dollars. However, in the mid 1990s, the USPTO started secretly flagging his applications under the Sensitive Applications Warning System (SAWS) program and processed them in a way that prevented him from obtaining any more patents. In response, Gil filed multiple lawsuits against the USPTO (including a successful appeal to the Supreme Court). During this episode, Gil discusses his story, including a recent class action lawsuit that he filed in his continued battle to obtain the patents that he believes he deserves.

John Harrity is the managing partner of Harrity & Harrity LLP and a leader in innovation in the legal field. John, along with his twin brother Paul Harrity, founded the patent preparation and prosecution firm almost twenty years ago.

During this episode, we discussed the history of the firm, the secrets to the firm's success, and how to successfully innovate in the legal field.

Makan Delrahim is the Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division. Makan is the first registered patent attorney in that role and has already made some significant changes with regards to the DoJ’s approach to intellectual property issues and encouraging innovation.

During this episode, we discussed Makan's personal story, the Antirust Division itself, the intersection between patent and antitrust issues, the relationship between the DoJ and the FTC, Standard Setting Organizations, and many other topics.

Kathi Vidal is the managing partner of of the Silicon Valley office of Winston & Strawn LLP. Kathi is also one of the top patent litigators in America and one of the most interesting thought leaders in the legal industry.

During this episode, we discussed how Kathi became so successful, what it’s like to be an IP lawyer in Silicon Valley, the state of patent litigation, strategic patent prosecution, business development, and many other subjects.

Aaron Cooper was the Chief Counsel for IP and Antitrust Law on the Senate Judiciary Committee during the passage of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) and is now the head of global policy for the trade group BSA (fka the Business Software Alliance). The AIA arguably made the most substantial changes to patent law since the Patent Act of 1836.

During the episode, we discuss the passage of the AIA, post-grant proceedings created by the AIA, the role of BSA and other interest groups in shaping intellectual property (IP) policy, current patent-related legislative proposals, and many other subjects.