By: Charles Bowen Visit the Patent Cafe For Intellectual Property Resources
Writers and editors always have had a raised consciousness about copyright. It
is, after all, an issue in their own back yard. And now recent debate over
Napster and its seamless sharing of copyrighted music online has brought home to
journalists what an enormous role that the Internet could play in undermining
the traditional safeguards that our laws provide for intellectual properties.
So it will seem ironic to some that the same Internet also will play a big part
in spreading the word about protecting patents, trademarks, copyrights, and
inventions. Nonetheless, a Web site called the Patent Cafe is devoted to
nurturing and securing original creations of all kinds.
And now the site also has added a section specially designed for us in the
working press. It promises journalists a variety of information, story ideas,
and interview sources about intellectual properties. The Patent Cafe can bring
professional reporters and editors together with top-ranked, reliable IP
insiders and current news sources in related fields. Worldwide, the site has
hundreds of industry contacts and thousands of inventor subscribers, so it might
be just the connection you are looking for to get quotes, background, and
industry profiles. In addition, the site also offers news of trends on current
issues related to the Web, e-commerce, and wired business in general.
To go directly to site's Media Resource Reference Desk, enter http://www.patentcafe.com/a/4media.html, where links in the upper left of the
screen connect you to:
o Interview Experts. Click a topic on the resulting list, ranging from patent
laws, technology licensing, and fraudulent invention promotion companies to 21st
century futurists and kid inventors. The site then provides a thumbnail
biography of one or more experts and contact information, usually by phone, Web
and/or e-mail.
o IP News Sources. Links here are to what the site considers the most credible
reports of intellectual property news, recent case law and judgments, events,
opinion and current infringement litigation in the world of patents, trademarks,
and copyrights. Among them are the U.S. Patent Office News and Law News Network.
o Fresh Story Ideas. Got writer's block? The site regularly refreshes this
section with ideas and resources to help stimulate timely stories of interest to
inventors, entrepreneurs, legal professionals, educators, and others. As the
site notes, "Some have been covered before with a various slant pitch, but most
are broad enough to stimulate regional, national, or other human interest
angles."
o Photo Opps and Events. This keeps you abreast of significant inventor events,
interview opportunities, chances to review new inventions, and meet-the-
inventors opportunities. You also can subscribe to the mailing list on the site
if you wish to be notified of these major U.S. regional events.
o General Listings. Here are general information resources that can be used as a
source of supportive research, such as links of the U.S. Patent Office, assorted
museums and small business organizations, dictionaries and inventor's resources,
books and educational sites.
Other considerations for using Patent Cafe in your writing and editing:
o If you have special requests for interview subjects or experts in the field
that are not covered in the standing features, check the "Research Assistance"
section of the main Media Resource Reference Desk screen. An e-mail contact for
a site specialist - at this writing, it's Laura Westlake - is provided
to bring you together with one of the service's subscribers.
o The site also has links to related services. Check the navigation bar of the
left of the introductory screen for connections to background on patents,
trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets, connections with expert speakers,
background articles and press releases.
o For a more general approach to the IP community, click the "Magazine" link at
the top of the media page to reach the site's Patent Cafe Magazine, an
electronic publication that covers the inventors and inventions for the general
public.
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Bowen writes columns, articles and books from West Virginia, and is host of the daily Internet News syndicated radio show (http://www.netnewstoday.com).
charlesbowen@compuserve.com
Copyright 2001, Editor & Publisher
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