In his February 21, 2007, Business Week OnLine article, Jeffrey Gangemi reports on a new type of website. “Think MySpace, but for Local Businesses,” describes how the social networking site, MySpace, can be used as a business networking tool.
MerchantCircle provides a search-optimized Web site where business owners can advertise and network free. There are a few glitches in the idea. As Gangemi reports, “The company’s next task? Figure out how to make it pay.”

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Intellectual Property - The Top 10 Things You Need to be Aware of When Developing and Bringing a New Product to Market

The Carolinas Chapter of the Product Development and Management Association invites you to kick off its 2007 professional program and tackle the important issue of intellectual property with Tracy-Gene Durkin, Director of renowned Washington-DC IP law firm Sterne Kessler Goldstein Fox.

Using case studies, Tracy will highlight the problems that arise when intellectual property issues are not considered in advance and fully integrated in the product development process. She will cover topics including joint development, protecting product configuration, and protecting IP internally, critical dates to keep in mind in the patent process, and proper documentation of invention dates, among others.

We will have in-house perspective as well from a Durham-based organization that helps pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

Please join us to exchange points of views and build relationships with your peers as well as gain insights from our speaker:

Tracy-Gene G. Durkin, is a director in and heads the Mechanical Patent and Trademark Group of Sterne Kessler Goldstein Fox. She has over twenty years of experience obtaining and enforcing worldwide intellectual property rights, including utility and design patents, trademarks and copyrights. Ms. Durkin’s client counseling experience includes helping clear new products and trademarks for use in the marketplace, selecting appropriate IP protection, and enforcing such protection through mediation, litigation and licensing. Ms. Durkin has spoken internationally on topics such as design patents, IP audits, mediation, IP protection on the Internet, and trademark co-branding and licensing for non profit organizations. She is Chair of the Industrial Design Committee for the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) and a member of the Industrial Designs Committee of the Intellectual Property Owners Association.

Who Should Attend

Product managers, engineers, designers, and business managers. This event qualifies as 2 Professional Development Hours toward PDMA’s NPDP recertification.

Date Thursday, February 22nd, 2007

Time Networking & Registration 6-6:45 pm; Presentation and Q&A 6:45 – 8:00 pm; Pizza and drinks.

Location MNMC Auditorium, 3021 Cornwallis Rd, Research Triangle Park (Durham), NC 27709.

Fees $20 members, $35 non-members, $10 students and volunteers. $10 additional for walk-in. Cash or check only. Fees include handouts.

Registration Online at http://pdma.eventbrite.com

Investment Strategy Comment: The Relentless Pursuit of Innovation

It’s Product Innovation, Stupid
In his MSN Money column today, Jim Jubak states “Firing workers isn’t fixing problems,” as he describes the investment prospects of both Motorola and Pfizer. He raises the question of how formerly high growth, high technology, companies with highly regarded stocks could fall on such hard times.
Both companies announced lower earnings in December. “Shortly after announcing disappointing earnings for the December 2006 quarter — a drop of 31% from 2005 for Motorola and a decline of 16% for Pfizer — the companies announced plans to cut 3,500 jobs and 10,000 jobs, respectively,” wrote Jubak.
Jubak’s main point is that firing workers, including 2900 research and development workers at Pfizer, will not solve the problems associated with lower revenues. As a contrary piece of advice, the arrival of lower earning from a legacy product basket would indicate hiring an additional 2900 research scientists.
If only the new workers could be organized into some coherent product innovation system.

Investment Strategy Comment

If You Don’t Watch the Earnings, Then What Do You Watch?