USA: What will Obama do for IP?
While queuing for tea during the mid-afternoon break at the WIPO domain name panellists' meeting in Geneva last month, I got chatting to am American colleague. I asked her which state she was from and she replied Illinois. "Oh Senator Obama's state", I remarked. "Not only that." She said, "I used to work with Michelle Obama." My colleague told me that she had entered Sidley Austin LLP at the same time as Mrs. Obama and had worked on the same team. That team was apparently the non-patent IP team. Delightedly I exclaimed: "So Mrs. Obama is also an IP lawyer!" "Indeed she is" my colleague replied, adding that she met her husband through the firm. He was on a temporary work placement with Sidleys and her job was to look after him. So with that kind of background we can expect great things from the new president. Or can we? The best indicator of what the president-elect will do is the transition website "change.gov" . At...