The modern business world operates on the widely held notion that by identifying and predicting patterns in the market one can increase one's ability to surf the waves of market success. Hence the LES USA & Canada High Tech Sector (HTS) has launched a multi-part series of papers on trends in its various industrial subsectors. This is just the beginning. We invite contributions internationally to the next edition of this series.

The following article examines the impact of current business, technology, and international trends in the semiconductor industry, and anticipates future challenges and opportunities for intellectual property licensing in this market.

We only thought software was ubiquitous before 2007. Now we find software applications ("apps") on the interactive screens, which are rapidly replacing passive view-only sets. Current trends in the software industry are heavy development of apps, and related implementations of cloud computing, particularly for smartphones and other mobile devices.

The wide adoption of smartphones and tablets in recent years is undeniable. In the second quarter of 2013, the total global install base of smartphones and tablets is predicted to exceed those of PCs.1 Mobile is more than just the latest fad in tech innovation. It is fundamentally reshaping marketplaces, business models and operating models.

Today Samsung is the world leader in flat screen TV and smart phone sales. LG is second in TV sales, fifth in cellphones. Samsung fabricated its first LCD screen in 1995, well after such screens already dominated laptop computers, and had shipped its first cell phone only in 1988. LG wasn't even founded until 1958 when it started its development of the first Korean-made radios. By 1982 it shipped its first color TV—made in the USA. In this time frame, not even twenty years ago, TV shipments were dominated by Japanese consumer manufacturers and cell phones were led by Motorola and Nokia. This paper explores possible sources of the secret to the Koreans' success and finds that the usual metrics—in particular patents, R&D investment, and low cost labor—don't explain it. We speculate that "industrial policy" measures of the South Korean government may have been decisive.

The framework of patent application priority and the first-inventor-to-file system, as well as the importance of including such issues in managing your business.

In Kirtsaeng v. Wiley, the Supreme Court ruled that once a copyrighted work has been sold by its owner anywhere in the world, it is free to be resold—including by importation into the U.S. itself. Hence, under U.S. copyright law a doctrine of "worldwide exhaustion of rights" now applies.

This article seeks to examine the risk a licensor of IP may face when licensing IP in Australia, in ways that the licensor may not have anticipated. The article first examines why the risk may exist, and then looks at how Australian courts have treated the risk in relation to each of brand licences, copyright licences and finally patent licences.

When it comes to technology transfer activities Turkey is really not on the map, yet. Lately, Turkey's dynamic economy is attracting a lot of international attention with a financial sector that is stronger than ever in a Europe that is struggling with economic crises. Nevertheless, delays in the judicial and legislative processes, weak intellectual property protection and low R&D spending may impede the Turkish government's ambitious target to take place among the top 10 economies in the world by the year 2023.

This paper describes phases that university technology transfer activities have passed through up to the present day, and suggests possible future developments. One of the conclusions is that some technology transfer offices may close, but only in universities that do not appreciate the non-commercial benefits that come from pursuing the commercial route for transferring technologies from a university.

Failure to Establish that Lost Sales Were a Direct Result of the Infringing Product Precludes Recovery of Lost Profits. To recover damages for lost profits, a patent owner must show causation in fact, establishing that, but for the infringement, the patent owner would have made additional profits. The patent owner typically seeks to prove causation in fact using the four Panduit factors: