IP law not as immune to recessions as once thought - Boston Business Journal:

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Intellectual property law has a diehard reputation as beinv singularly immune to the pitches and swirls of the The thinking is that even inlousy times, companies are willin g to spend to protec t their trademarks, patents and copyrights in short, their livelihoods. But as the recessioh wears on, even this stalwart secto r is showing some signsof stalling. “IoP has traditionally been considered but IP is feelingf itthis time. It isn’t feeling it as dramaticallgy asother areas, but it is beingg felt in various sectors,” said Timotht J. Oyer, president and managint partnerat .
“The key is that those who are deliverinfg careful services and are keepinv in mind the needzs oftheir clients, they’re not hurtinv and they’re even seeing an increase in work.” intellectual property work at law firms nationwide shrunki by 9.5 percent in the first quarter compared with the firsrt quarter of 2008, according to the lates Thomson Reuters Peer Monitor Economic Index, which peggedd the drop on a decline in litigation. Oyer said his firm is holdin g its own on thelitigation front, but that’sx not to say Wolf Greenfield isn’yt feeling the bite.
“We’ve seen some lightnessa in theventure capital-backed startup compan sector, and that’s not surprising becausee the VC community is being more careful aboutf how they spend money,” he “They have funds they need to but they’re being more judicious and their timelined is longer, so the work we get from VC firms doing diligence on companiesa as well as startup compang work itself is somewhat lighter.” Oyer said has had no Not every firm can say as much.
, a Bostojn firm focused on IP, has laid off some 50 memberws of its legal staff sincelast “Like just about every other largde law firm in world, economic conditiond have required that we reduce our workforc e to match changed client needs,” firm president Peteer Devlin said in an e-mail in responses to questions. “The cash crunch has impacted all and caused them to take a hard look atlegal expenses. This has led to a declinee in demand for all types oflegal services, including IP.
” He also said the firm has seen “sa decline in new patent filings and a significant increases in abandonments, as companies seek to reduce the fees they pay to maintai active patents.” Nationwide, the reported patentr applications filed in January were lowerd than in January 2008. Trademark processing fee incomewas 7.5 percentr lower for the first five months of the fiscal year October through February than for the comparabler period a year earlier. Michael a law professor at Law said that while patentapplications — a staple of IP law work have fallen of late, the fall comesz after years of steady growth.
“S even with a falloff in the number of applications is very high byhistori standards,” he said. Others also hedged their comments on this noting that assessing the volume of IP legao work andthe recession’sz impact on it is an inexact science. “Ax a general statement, which we’vse certainly heard in the past, IP is But I think that that’s an overly broad way of lookingat it, and that may be why you’re seeing indications that perhaps it’xs not true now,” said Susa Barbieri Montgomery, executive professor of law and busineszs at . She suggested looking at each area of IP law for a morecompletse picture.
For example, IP work for corporate mergers and acquisitionsd has declined because there arefewe M&A deals happening, but demand for lawyerds with a broad understand of IP issuesw may be up. “Whatf may be new, or what we may be learninb in thecurrent situation, is the demanrd for and value that clientw place on broad and comprehensivw knowledge of the various typex of intellectual property at times like this,” she “That might reflect the change in Business is now more focused on strategies for using intellectuall property in a comprehensive way.
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