Intellectual Property

3 More Questions For A Patent Podcast Pro (Part I)

Eli Mazour’s expansion of the Clause 8 podcast experience into the Voice of IP newsletter is a welcome one.

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It is great being back after a summer hiatus for this column. I hope everyone in this readership had a pleasant summer and is as invigorated as I am to end this time off on a positive note — both personally and professionally. To get us started, I am very pleased to bring to this audience a follow-on audience with noted IP personality — and one of my favorite people in this industry — Eli Mazour. Long-time readers may recall my 2018 interview with Eli, where we discussed the start of his Clause 8 podcast series, which he launched alongside his patent prosecution and counseling practice at a boutique IP firm. Let’s get reintroduced to Eli and visit with him about the evolution of both his practice and the Clause 8 podcast series.

As you might suspect from his podcasting exploits, Eli loves talking to people about patents. That love of talking about patents — along with his belief in the importance of America’s patent system — led him to start the Clause 8 podcast.  The Clause 8 podcast features interviews with the most interesting members of the IP community, including former judges, academics, and practitioners. As you will see below, Clause 8 has expanded into Eli’s new offering, the Voice of IP newsletter and podcast series.

In his practice, Eli relies on his intricate knowledge of how the patent system operates to help clients build valuable patent portfolios that advance their business goals as a patent attorney and of counsel at Foley & Lardner.  Clients seek Eli out particularly for his experience in obtaining license-ready, litigation-grade standard essential patents (SEPs), preparing corresponding claim charts, and avoiding and overcoming patent eligibility issues for software and fintech-related inventions. He is also experienced in devising and implementing best practices for growing global patent portfolios, and developing corporate policies and positions related to IP. His goal is to be the first call for clients facing new patent-related issues. Eli also helps clients evaluate existing patent portfolios and has experience with licensing negotiations, clearances, opinions, and enforcement. Lastly, Eli is frequently sought out for his insights on how to navigate and impact patent policy, including legislative developments and changes at the USPTO.

I very much welcome the opportunity to share Eli’s insights once again with this audience. As usual, I have added some brief commentary to Eli’s answer to my first question below, but have otherwise presented his answer as he provided it.

Gaston Kroub: How has the Clause 8 interview series evolved into your new effort Voice of IP?

Eli Mazour: I started Clause 8 primarily to share entertaining conversations with the most interesting people in the IP field (like you!). Also, I felt that too much of the public conversation about patents was driven by the “patent troll” narrative. I hoped to play a small part in counteracting that. I picked the title Clause 8 specifically as a reminder that IP rights were rooted in the Constitution because the founders appreciated their importance.

Because of the podcast, I got to know people from across the patent spectrum. This led me, somewhat to my surprise, to become much more empathetic to all their views, including those of inventors who think the patent system is completely broken, corporate IP leaders worried about disincentivizing innovation in America, big tech lobbyists dismayed by ever-evolving patent monetization strategies, and policy makers influenced very differently by those divergent views.

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So, my focus shifted to using Clause 8 to provide a platform for all those voices so that everyone in the IP field could gain a good faith appreciation of those different viewpoints. I also love telling stories of resilience and innovation related to the field.

Over time, I was heartened to learn how many listeners — especially in-house counsel focused on devising long-term patent strategies and impacting IP policy — rely on Clause 8 for practical advice and insights about the forces shaping patent policy developments.

Those guests and listeners often shared news, perspectives, and questions with me that I didn’t see covered elsewhere. Occasionally, that would spur me to do a podcast episode based on a related topic. More often, those topics didn’t really fit into, warrant, or were too fleeting for a podcast episode. Personally, I was also bored by IP news coverage that consisted of daily updates about lateral moves and painfully incremental developments in ongoing litigation matters. I heard similar complaints from others in the field about the barrage of irrelevant news.

That led me to the idea of starting the Voice of IP newsletter to share the interesting IP-related information I came across and stay in touch with listeners between seasons of Clause 8. My goal is to try to zoom out and focus on IP news that matters, that provides practical insights about the current and future state of IP for patent practitioners, innovators, and policy makers.

GK: Anyone who has practiced IP law knows that it is a field that is constantly progressing. To some extent, the traditional legal news media and IP-specific efforts try their best to provide comprehensive views into important developments. At the same time, there is always room for intelligent coverage of the space, making Eli’s expansion of the Clause 8 podcast experience into the Voice of IP newsletter a welcome one. We can expect that Eli’s learned perspective, coupled with his deft determinations of what is interesting or warrants further discussion in the IP space, will make Voice of IP a must-read for practitioners across the entire spectrum of patent practice.

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We will continue with Eli’s answers to questions 2 and 3 next week. In the meantime, please take the opportunity to sign up for Eli’s Voice of IP newsletter and podcasts.

Please feel free to send comments or questions to me at [email protected] or via Twitter: @gkroub. Any topic suggestions or thoughts are most welcome.

Gaston Kroub lives in Brooklyn and is a founding partner of Kroub, Silbersher & Kolmykov PLLC, an intellectual property litigation boutique, and Markman Advisors LLC, a leading consultancy on patent issues for the investment community. Gaston’s practice focuses on intellectual property litigation and related counseling, with a strong focus on patent matters. You can reach him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter: @gkroub.

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