Intellectual property
Group hopes to tap innovative spirit
Group hopes to tap innovative spirit
...Kathleen Chapman wasn’t sure what to expect when she started a group that
would focus on intellectual property. But the Naval Research Laboratory
attorney has been surprised by the interest as the group reaches across the Gulf
Coast region.
...The Gulf Coast Patent Association has had three meetings so far, with the
inaugural meeting in October at Stennis Space Center attended by some 30
people. The follow-up meeting in February in New Orleans drew 45 and the
most recent meeting in June in Mobile, Ala., attracted 36 people.
...The group is composed of IP practitioners, including intellectual property
attorneys, patent agents and others. There are 20 members from Baton Rouge
to Pensacola. Ideally, she’d like to see the group expand to Panama City or
perhaps Tallahassee.
...Chapman, a native of Long Beach, Miss., spent her adult life in Florida,
Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., and, for 23 years, New England. She's back,
and on a mission to make the region an innovation dynamo.
...What prompted it all was finding out that many people granted patents from
the Gulf Coast region used attorneys from elsewhere to represent them. So she
did some checking.
...What she found was there were intellectual property practitioners in the
region, but no organized effort to make their services known. The Gulf Coast
Patent Association does that.
...She wants the association to be a place where inventors, individuals or those
associated with organizations, can go to find practitioners who can help them
navigate the sometime treacherous path towards protecting what they’ve
created. The aim is to get their products and services to the marketplace..
...It’s just one more piece of the process, which can also involve technology
transfer offices and business incubators. Tech transfer offices are generally
associated with an organization where research is common. NASA, for instance,
has a tech transfer office at Stennis Space Center, as does the University of
Southern Mississippi through its Business & Innovation Assistance Center.
...Incubators are designed to help start-ups survive the first year of life. Many
are stand-alone operations, like Biloxi’s Innovation Center, with start-ups from a
variety of fields. South Mississippi also has an operation that’s both technology
transfer office and incubator: the Mississippi Enterprise for Technology.
...The patent group works closely with both tech transfer offices and incubators.
...Chapman points out that moving a new process or product to the commercial
market requires a number of players and organizations working together. It can
be intimidating.
...Joe Graben, director of the University of Southern Mississippi Business &
Innovation Assistance Center, thinks the work of the patent group will give
businesses in South Mississippi a group of experts they can turn to.
..."With intellectual property issues, you need to talk face-to-face with
someone," said Graben.
...Charlie Beasley, president of the Mississippi Enterprise for Technology, is also
interested in the group and plans to have MSET involved.
...So far, much of the group’s work has been organizing the board, creating
committees and getting their footing. They are still in the process of letting
people know they exist.
...Chapman is a great believer in innovation. She’s lived in areas where it played
a big role in the economy, and she sees no reason why it can’t be the same in
the Gulf Coast region. This region has a lot of innovative activity on both the
federal, university and commercial level.
...Where someone lives can make a big difference in whether an idea reaches
the marketplace. She said everywhere she’s lived shared the quintessential
American qualities of intelligence, creativity, drive and enthusiasm. But a
business in Massachusetts is 73 times more likely to have a patent assigned to it
than a business in Mississippi.
...She’s hoping it will become just as likely in South Mississippi and the rest of
the Gulf Coast by having IP practitioners take an active role in creating a climate
where innovation and commercialization thrive.
..."We have the opportunity to create the fertile soil for innovation here and
now," she said. - David Tortorano
July 2011
would focus on intellectual property. But the Naval Research Laboratory
attorney has been surprised by the interest as the group reaches across the Gulf
Coast region.
...The Gulf Coast Patent Association has had three meetings so far, with the
inaugural meeting in October at Stennis Space Center attended by some 30
people. The follow-up meeting in February in New Orleans drew 45 and the
most recent meeting in June in Mobile, Ala., attracted 36 people.
...The group is composed of IP practitioners, including intellectual property
attorneys, patent agents and others. There are 20 members from Baton Rouge
to Pensacola. Ideally, she’d like to see the group expand to Panama City or
perhaps Tallahassee.
...Chapman, a native of Long Beach, Miss., spent her adult life in Florida,
Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., and, for 23 years, New England. She's back,
and on a mission to make the region an innovation dynamo.
...What prompted it all was finding out that many people granted patents from
the Gulf Coast region used attorneys from elsewhere to represent them. So she
did some checking.
...What she found was there were intellectual property practitioners in the
region, but no organized effort to make their services known. The Gulf Coast
Patent Association does that.
...She wants the association to be a place where inventors, individuals or those
associated with organizations, can go to find practitioners who can help them
navigate the sometime treacherous path towards protecting what they’ve
created. The aim is to get their products and services to the marketplace..
...It’s just one more piece of the process, which can also involve technology
transfer offices and business incubators. Tech transfer offices are generally
associated with an organization where research is common. NASA, for instance,
has a tech transfer office at Stennis Space Center, as does the University of
Southern Mississippi through its Business & Innovation Assistance Center.
...Incubators are designed to help start-ups survive the first year of life. Many
are stand-alone operations, like Biloxi’s Innovation Center, with start-ups from a
variety of fields. South Mississippi also has an operation that’s both technology
transfer office and incubator: the Mississippi Enterprise for Technology.
...The patent group works closely with both tech transfer offices and incubators.
...Chapman points out that moving a new process or product to the commercial
market requires a number of players and organizations working together. It can
be intimidating.
...Joe Graben, director of the University of Southern Mississippi Business &
Innovation Assistance Center, thinks the work of the patent group will give
businesses in South Mississippi a group of experts they can turn to.
..."With intellectual property issues, you need to talk face-to-face with
someone," said Graben.
...Charlie Beasley, president of the Mississippi Enterprise for Technology, is also
interested in the group and plans to have MSET involved.
...So far, much of the group’s work has been organizing the board, creating
committees and getting their footing. They are still in the process of letting
people know they exist.
...Chapman is a great believer in innovation. She’s lived in areas where it played
a big role in the economy, and she sees no reason why it can’t be the same in
the Gulf Coast region. This region has a lot of innovative activity on both the
federal, university and commercial level.
...Where someone lives can make a big difference in whether an idea reaches
the marketplace. She said everywhere she’s lived shared the quintessential
American qualities of intelligence, creativity, drive and enthusiasm. But a
business in Massachusetts is 73 times more likely to have a patent assigned to it
than a business in Mississippi.
...She’s hoping it will become just as likely in South Mississippi and the rest of
the Gulf Coast by having IP practitioners take an active role in creating a climate
where innovation and commercialization thrive.
..."We have the opportunity to create the fertile soil for innovation here and
now," she said. - David Tortorano
July 2011
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