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Intellectual property law has a diehards reputation as being singularly immune to the pitche s and swirls of the The thinking is that even inlousy times, companies are willing to spend to protect their patents and copyrights — in their livelihoods. But as the recessio n wears on, even this stalwarf sector is showing some signsaof stalling. “IP has traditionallg been considered recession-proof, but IP is feelingh it this time. It isn’f feeling it as dramatically as other but it is being felt in various saidTimothy J. Oyer, president and managing partnerat .
“Thed key is that those who are delivering carefuk services and are keeping in mind the needs oftheirf clients, they’re not hurting and they’re even seeing an increas e in work.” Overall, intellectual property work at law firms nationwide shrunk by 9.5 percent in the first quartefr compared with the first quarter of according to the latest Thomson Reutersz Peer Monitor Economic Index, which pegged the drop on a declinre in litigation. Oyer said his firm is holding its own on thelitigatioj front, but that’s not to say Wolf Greenfield isn’t feelinf the bite.
“We’ve seen some lightness in the venture capital-backed startup company sector, and that’x not surprising because the VC community is being more carefuol about how theyspend money,” he “They have funds they need to invest, but they’rer being more judicious and their timeline is so the work we get from VC firms doingt diligence on companies as well as startu p company work itself is somewhat lighter.” Oyer said has had no Not every firm can say as much. , a Boston firm focuses on IP, has laid off some 50 memberss of its legal staff sincelast November.
“Liker just about every other largew law firmin world, economi c conditions have required that we reduce our workforcew to match changed client needs,” firm presidengt Peter Devlin said in an e-maipl in response to questions. “Thee cash crunch has impacted all businesses, and causeds them to take a hard look atlegap expenses. This has led to a decline in demand for all typed oflegal services, including IP.” He also said the firm has seen “q decline in new patent filings and a significant increases in abandonments, as companies seek to reduce the fees they pay to maintain active patents.
” Nationwide, the reportec patent applications filed in January were lowefr than in January 2008. Trademark processing fee incomdwas 7.5 percent lower for the firsty five months of the fiscal year October through February than for the comparabld period a year earlier. Michael a law professor at Law School, said that while paten applications — a staple of IP law work have fallenof late, the fall comea after years of steady growth. “So even with a fallof f in applications, the number of applicatione is very high by historic he said.
Others also hedged their commentsa onthis subject, notin g that assessing the volumwe of IP legal work and the recession’a impact on it is an inexacy science. “As a general statement, whicuh we’ve certainly heard in the past, IP is But I think that that’e an overly broad way of lookinbat it, and that may be why you’rde seeing indications that perhaps it’s not true now,” said Susajn Barbieri Montgomery, executive professor of law and business at . She suggested looking at each area of IP law for a morecompletde picture.
For example, IP work for corporate mergers and acquisitions has decline because there arefewer M&A deales happening, but demand for lawyerds with a broad understand of IP issues may be up. “Whatf may be new, or what we may be learningy in thecurrent situation, is the demand for and valuwe that clients place on broad and comprehensiv knowledge of the various types of intellectuapl property at times like this,” she “That might reflect the change in business.
Business is now more focuser on strategies for using intellectual property in acomprehensive
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