First Quarter 2012 Rochester Patent Index Released
17-Apr-2012
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ROCHESTER, NY - Hoffman Warnick LLC (HW), an intellectual property law firm with offices in Albany, Rochester, and Boston has released the Rochester Patent Index for First Quarter 2012. A press release by the firm stated that the “Rochester Patent Index” includes both patent issuances and patent applications filed for Monroe and Ontario Counties with and without XEROX and KODAK.
From a quarterly perspective, the number of patent applications remained relatively flat in the first quarter of 2012 as compared to the previous quarter while the number of patent issuances increased. This was the case across the board, i.e., with and without Kodak/Xerox. Comparing the first quarter of 2012 with the first quarter of 2012, there was a drop in filings by Kodak/Xerox, but an increase in patent issuances. Carl Ruoff of Hoffman Warnick’s Rochester office states, “Issuances generally reflect company R&D investment from a few years ago, while new application filings reflect more current R&D investment. The decrease in application filings by Kodak/Xerox in first quarter 2012 over first quarter 2011 is probably due to the continuing financial struggles of Kodak.”
From an annual perspective, application filings overall held relatively steady although there was a dip in Q3 2011. Issuances overall increased to their highest level in the last five quarters. Comparing Q1 2011 to Q1 2012, there was a drop non Kodak/Xerox patents issued and filed, although the decrease in filing was slight.
An example of the exciting technology being developed in the Rochester area is recently issued to US patent 8,139,828 entitled “Method For Enhanced Visualization Of Medical Images,” which is assigned to Carestream Health, Inc., and deals with a method for enhancing contrast in mammographic images.