If you have not recently visited the IP Practice Management pages on this website, then you are in for a treat.

In the past few weeks, a thoughtful and stimulating array of new content on the most talked about IP topics has been added by members and friends of the PMC.

Vikrant Rana just posted great insights on possibly the hottest and most controversial topic of the moment, “The use of emerging Artificial Intelligence in patents” .

Our PMC Book Club is up and running with plenty of recommendations for interesting reads around a variety of IP topics.

My own most-recent book recommendations include a guide to controlling and influencing the conversation with potential clients, titled “The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation”.

I also recommend a book with an offbeat title, “Strategy and the Fat Smoker” , which is a fascinating exploration of strategy, planning and execution. The ‘fat smoker’ in the title illustrates the common problem of knowing what to do but struggling to do it.

We also have our PMC Practice Tip of the Month which in July is all about best behaviour during online meetings. And like the ‘fat smoker’ in the book title, we all know we should avoid our phones and multitasking during Zoom meetings – so stop doing it! Be present and engaged during the meeting.

All the content I have mentioned so far is available to any visitor to the IP Practice Management pages – but we also have valuable content reserved for FICPI members.

This includes the most recent PMC Guide which focuses on Valuations and how an IP attorney gets involved in IP valuations. It is a very practical publication which includes case studies from around the globe.

In my previous quarterly update, I shared with you the plan for the Profit Generation survey, the results of which will be shared at the FICPI Open Forum in London in October this year.

The research is underway and going very well. We identified FICPI members involved in financial management, and they have two more weeks to complete the survey. If you are one of those members, please complete and return your response by July 31st.

Meanwhile, members of PMC are hard at work preparing for the sessions in London which will comprise the IP Practice Management stream at the FICPI Open Forum (one of three streams – the other two being Patents and Trade Marks).

We have already identified moderators and speakers for several sessions, including among other discussions on Business Development and Competition from e-Service Providers.

I will share a fuller picture of the Open Forum agenda in my next quarterly PMC update – and I hope to see as many of you as possible when we all gather in London, October 4th-7th.

Next steps

If you have questions or would like to get involved with PMC, please email me at [email protected].

Click to read our previous quarterly update.