Facebook: Blocking and Tackling
July 29, 2007 | Filed Under Technology
UK’s Telegraph reports that 70% of London firms surveyed are restricting employee access to social networking websites like Facebook.
Megafirm Allen & Overy had earlier followed this trend but then lifted the ban after employee complaints. According to this report, A&O initially blocked access when its “IT chiefs took the decision to block access to the website due to concerns that staff downloading videos from the site would compromise the performance of A&O’s IT systems.”
(Sounds a bit like a classic generic IT rationale. As if Facebook’s the only place a solicitor can download a video…)
A better concern would be whether lawyers are really expanding their professional networks on sites like Facebook–and are they billing their time doing it? Some are already complaining of “social network exhaustion.”
Some technology drives business results; other risks driving us to distraction. Or is it flying?
Headhunting Without Recruiters
July 23, 2007 | Filed Under Technology, Organization
As disclosed here; Socialtext CEO Ross Mayfield is looking to take a step up and recruit a new CEO to replace himself.
Since Socialtext is a company that seeks to bring wikis to the enterprise, Mr. Mayfield is using the web to hunt the best head:
The ability to do this search openly is part of the great culture we have built at Socialtext. I’m going to transition to Chairman & President and focus on growing the top line with my external facing duties and drive corporate and product strategy. CEO 2.0 will bring a strong operations background and have a mandate to grow the bottom line. This is a dream job.
I’m just starting the search and you can help. We should be able to find the right person within our own strong network, so if you can make a strong recommendation please contact me through LinkedIn.
With the many networks available now, the long-standing assertion of executive recruiters about their “proprietary databases” filled with “exceedingly qualified candidates” rings a bit hollow.
If they can really find and pry “A” players out of good gigs that such people are always in, then headhunters may earn their 33-and-a-third. Those are few and far between; I had a staffer from one of the leading legal recruiters leave me a message last week to “call her if we need any lawyers.”
Talk about value added…
Interested parties can contact Mr. Mayfield through LinkedIn; although Denise Howell points out that some members of that network are migrating to Facebook.
Patently Oblivious
July 16, 2007 | Filed Under Technology
The first thing any serious business does it file a patent on its inventions, right?
Maybe not so fast.
The New York Times has an interesting take on the real value of patents.
A profile of research directed by James Bessen (on the faculty of Boston University law school) shows something that many GCs have seen over the years:
The two researchers have analyzed data from 1976 to 1999, the most recent year with complete data. They found that starting in the late 1990s, publicly traded companies saw patent litigation costs outstrip patent profits. Specifically, they estimate that about $8.4 billion in global profits came directly from patents held by publicly traded United States companies in 1997, rising to about $9.3 billion in 1999, with two-thirds of the profits going to chemical and pharmaceutical companies. Domestic litigation costs alone, meanwhile, soared to $16 billion in 1999 from $8 billion in 1997.
This certainly explains why many law firms have moved to expand their IP practices: you bill to file, prosecute, get the patent, watch for infringers, send out cease & desists, and file again (only this time it’s a lawsuit). Then you wade into discovery unlike anything you’ve ever seen, and likely settle at some point.
Meanwhile, has the client done anything to actually monetize the patent?
For some inventions, licensing may be a better option.
It may be time to add a ROIP metric to the pre-filing patent review process: articulating a realistic calculation of the likely return on intellectual property.
Until then we know who always wins.
Thank You For Subscribing!
July 1, 2007 | Filed Under Select - Monthly Newsletter
I appreciate your interest in Wired GC - Select, a monthly newsletter and resource for attorneys interested in law from the inside out.
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