Thomson Reuters today announced the acquisition of Canada Law Book, a division of the Cartwright Group Limited. Canada Law Book will be aligned with Carswell, a Thomson Reuters business headquartered in Toronto.
Canada Law Book produces publications across 36 topics of legal information, and is known for having high editorial standards, as well as authors who are among Canada’s most prominent legal scholars.
In the news release announcing the acquisition, Carswell President Don Van Meer said: “Canada Law Book provides unparalleled content, including superior content for the labor, employment and intellectual property practice areas, and has an extraordinary team of author experts who will complement the Carswell family of authors and the products and services we produce. We are confident our combined strengths will provide true value to our customers, and we are committed to maintaining and enriching the high-quality product offerings our customers have come to expect from us and from Canada Law Book.”
Carswell and Canada Law Book each brings more than 100 years of legal tradition and expertise to customers, and together provide the recognized excellence, integrity and highest editorial standards that ensure legal practitioners, judges and academics receive the most comprehensive materials for their practice.
Posted by Gretchen DeSutter in:
Company Current | Products |
No Comments |
Share
Are you preserving a wrinkle-free face with nanotechnology?
You may be, without even knowing it. Nanotechnology, the use of microscopic devices, materials or compounds that are 100 nanometers or smaller, isn’t just for your favorite electronic gadget anymore.
A new report, ”Can Nanotech Unlock the Fountain of Youth?” from Thomson Reuters IP Solutions, finds that the beauty industry has started taking an aggressive approach to using nanotechnology to improve the performance of creams, sunscreens, shampoos and other personal-care products.
And surprises abound: while L’Oreal and Amorepacific are, as expected, early innovators in the development of nanotech-based beauty products, a great deal of new innovation in the field comes from companies that one would not traditionally associate with the cosmetics industry, including Fujifilm and BASF.
Of 367 unique inventions filed in 2009, 10 were by Fujifilm; nine were by BASF and seven were by Amorepacific.
To hear more about innovation in the nanotechnology arena for personal care items listen to Michael Thompson from IP Solutions in this Legal Current podcast interview:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
You can view the full report, “Can Nanotech Unlock the Fountain of Youth?” here.
Data for the report is compiled from the Thomson Reuters Derwent World Patents Index® (DWPISM) database, for patent research, and SERION®, for trademarks, to identify global innovation and brand activity in nanotechnology for personal care products.
Posted by Gretchen DeSutter in:
In Practice | Practice trends |
No Comments |
Share
The first XMLAW Summit, “2010: A SharePoint Odyssey,” will begin tomorrow at the W Hotel in Boston. Preston McKenzie, vice president and general manager, Hubbard One, describes what attendees will experience at the two-day event in this short overview:
As Preston said in that clip, Andrew McAfee will be the keynote speaker tomorrow. McAfee, considered one of the 50 most influential people in business IT, will share his unique perspective and insights from his book Enterprise 2.0: New Collaborative Tools for your Organization’s Toughest Challenges.
In the course of the summit, attendees will explore real-world usage, strategy and technical discussions around SharePoint to drive growth, as well as learn innovative tips and techniques for getting the most out of their investment.
Be sure to folo news from the summit via Twitter using the hashtag #XMLAW2010.
You also can follow the posts about the conference from Hubbard One on The Hubbard Perspective blog.
Posted by Gretchen DeSutter in:
Company Current | Events |
No Comments |
Share
Today is World Intellectual Property Day and Thomson Reuters, Legal, and IP Solutions are proud to partner with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to launch a program giving industrial property offices (responsible for intellectual property and copyright) and government and academic researchers in developing countries free access to global patent information.
The goals of World IP Day are to raise awareness for how patents, copyrights, trademarks and designs impact daily life; increase understanding of how protecting IP rights helps promote creativity and innovation; celebrate creativity and the contribution made by creators and innovators to the development of societies; and, encourage respect for the IP rights of others.
Our hope is that free access to scientific and technical knowledge, in particular knowledge in patents, fosters global innovation by enabling the development of solutions to the world’s technical challenges.
“The theme of this year’s World IP Day, “Innovation – Linking the World,” reflects the goal of this new program which aims to provide access for developing and least-developed countries to technical information found in patent databases”, said Yo Takagi, assistant director general, Global Infrastructure Sector, World Intellectual Property Organization “These databases offer sophisticated search and analysis tools as well as a wide range of other value-added features. Allowing developing and least-developed countries to more fully exploit their creative potential through the effective use of technical information found in these specialized patent databases will further link these countries into the global knowledge economy and foster the development of new solutions to technical challenges faced on a local and global level.”
Read the news release for more information on the program that WIPO and Thomson Reuters will be working together on.
Posted by Gretchen DeSutter in:
In Practice | Technology and innovation |
No Comments |
Share
Editor’s note: The video of this event has been removed as of May 2010, per contract agreement.
Malcolm Gladwell, author of Outliers, Blink, The Tipping Point and his newest book What the Dog Saw, headlined the closing LegalTech keynote on Wednesday. The session was titled “I3: The New Convergence of Intelligence, Intuition and Information,” and was sponsored by Thomson Reuters. Gladwell also has been a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine since 1996.
Also speaking on the panel was Dr. Lisa Sanders, internist, columnist for The New York Times and author of Every Patient Tells a Story: Medical Mysteries and the Art of Diagnosis, and medical advisor to the Fox television series House. Sanders also is an assistant clinical professor at the Yale University School of Medicine and a clinician educator in Yale’s Primary Care Internal Medicine Residency program.
David Craig, chief strategy officer for Thomson Reuters, opened the discussion and moderated the event.
The ballroom at the New York Hilton was packed as Craig set the tone by describing the “tsunami of information” inundating professionals across the globe.
“Everyone here knows from personal experience how the amount of information has exploded in the last twenty years,” said Craig. “But not only are we creating more information, we are also storing and sharing it. Corporations and organizations are responsible for a third of this information – banking records, personal medical records, research reports, news. And the expectation is that there is an answer online for every question. Legal professionals ran two billion searches against the Westlaw databases in 2009. This was an increase of 45% percent from the year before.”
Gladwell reflected that it wasn’t the lack of information that left the United States unprepared for the Pearl Harbor attack on Dec. 7, 1941 – the United States had broken the Japanese code; it was the U.S. military’s over-abundance of information that left it unable to “see the forest for the trees.”
As part of her comments, Sanders further defined the information explosion as she recreated how doctors bombard themselves with information to solve difficult problems. She described a real-life House experience as a medical team tried to diagnose a dying woman. Despite 20 pages of test results and information, the primary doctor still couldn’t determine why the patient was jaundiced and why her vital organs were shutting down. What saved the woman was a doctor who reviewed the results and stepped back from the information to look for the connections.
Gladwell remarked that intuition is rooted in the unconscious, “drawing from the reserves of knowledge,” he said. Unaided expert decision-making is fragile, easily infected by biases. Gladwell pointed to a Kasparov chess challenge in which both opponents used a computer throughout the match. Kasparov saw that the computer’s quick analysis of every possible move enabled these grandmasters to let their experience, creativity and knowledge come through.
John Bringardner recaps the session here on Law.com and Jason Wilson offers up “Gladwell, Sanders & Craig: LTNY 2010 Last Keynote in Tweets” on his blog.
After the presentation, we asked Monica Bay, editor-in-chief of Law Technology News, for her impressions of the discussion in this video clip:
Posted by Gretchen DeSutter in:
Company Current | Events |
Comments (9) |
Share
Editor’s note: This article was written by Gary Hornseth for West, for publication in the December 2009 issue of Metropolitan Corporate Counsel
Think about the world’s key business markets, and New York and London probably come to mind. But as the globalization of business continues to accelerate, you also need to include the explosively growing financial centers in other regions of the Americas, Asia and elsewhere.
Consider what is happening in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), both Mainland and Hong Kong, for example. Combined, they represented one of the highest-volume mergers and acquisitions (M&A) markets in the world for most of 2009. This is a dramatic shift from a few years ago. Moreover, in the second and third quarters of 2009, China and Hong Kong assumed a leading role in helping the global M&A market emerge from the recession. (more…)
Posted by Gretchen DeSutter in:
In Practice | Practice trends |
No Comments |
Share
Westlaw Business and the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) have announced their agreement to provide global business law professionals with IFSB’s unique direction on Sharia law within the Westlaw Business Islamic Finance Centre.
The Islamic Finance Centre on Westlaw Business is the first of its kind in the legal community and provides insight into Islamic finance deals and industry standards for lawyers and product-structuring teams.
The IFSB is an international standard-setting organization that promotes and enhances the soundness and stability of the Islamic financial services industry.
In the news release announcing the agreement, Mazen Zein, product manager for Westlaw Business said, “Structuring capital transactions to be compliant with Sharia law requires current and authoritative information. Our agreement with IFSB enables us to provide their invaluable insights on Islamic Sharia law and regulations to our customers worldwide. Business law practitioners need to understand the developments and issues within the Islamic finance industry. Together, Westlaw Business and IFSB will further the availability and understanding of this information, ultimately increasing the transparency of the Islamic finance industry.”
To learn more about Islamic finance and the IFSB, listen to Zein in this Westcast podcast, the second in a two-part series.
Posted by Gretchen DeSutter in:
In Practice | Practice trends |
No Comments |
Share
Recent news relating to Islamic finance has raised interest across the globe about the way it is structured and operates.
Westlaw Business and the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) this week announced their agreement to provide current standards and other Islamic finance industry information for global business law professionals within the Westlaw Business Islamic Finance Centre.
“AAOIFI is a thought leader in the development of international standards applicable to Islamic financial institutions,” said Kevin Ritchey, senior vice president, Westlaw Business. “We are pleased to provide this exclusive information within the Islamic Finance Centre of Westlaw Business, ensuring business lawyers are confident they have the background and guidance they need for structuring Sharia-compliant transactions.”
AAOIFI standards are developed in consultation with leading Sharia scholars and experts in the field of banking, insurance, economics, law and asset management, thereby contributing to the professional development of the industry.
To get a sense of the history of Islamic finance and AAOIFI, listen to this Westcast podcast with Mazen Zein, product manager for Westlaw Business.
Posted by Gretchen DeSutter in:
In Practice | Practice trends |
No Comments |
Share
Who is a responsible citizen? What is a hero? An Eagan, Minn. convenience store clerk would say that Jochen Leidner, a research scientist at Thomson Reuters, is both.
On November 15, after filling his car with gasoline, Leidner entered a convenience store to scout for a snack and report an odd smell from the pump. Minutes later he was wrestling a robber to the ground.
“While I was standing in queue, a man with a black T-shirt over his head pushed the woman in front of me,” Leidner said. “The man then turned to the clerk and said ‘Give me the cash, I’m not kidding you.’” He appeared to have a gun, hidden.
Leidner, with previous experience as a paramedic, quickly tried to assess if a plastic bag the man was holding really contained a gun, but he was unsure.
Leidner said, “The clerk looked shocked and wasn’t responding to the robber’s request. I was worried he might shoot her, or shoot others in the store.” So within seconds Leidner slipped behind the robber and took the risk.
(Image from security video provided to Eagan, Minn. police)
The store surveillance cameras show Leidner taking the robber to the ground, and two other men in the store then jumping in to help hold the robber until police arrived. (See the video in this WCCO-TV report)
Why did he take this risk?
Leidner in a quiet voice said, “I was concerned for the clerk.” And he is still concerned and hopes she will recover from the shock. Was he scared, or does he feel scared about it today? He didn’t think about it, but hopes his mother in Germany never hears about it. “I think she would be freaked out,” he said.
In Jochen Leidner’s eyes, the real triumph of this story is that nobody was hurt.
Heroes are everyday people, making a difference. Jochen Leidner is definitely a hero, although he prefers to think of himself as simply a responsible citizen.
Either way, I think his mother would be very proud of him.
Posted by Gretchen DeSutter in:
Company Current | In the News |
No Comments |
Share
Thomson IP Management Services, a business of Thomson Reuters, today announced the acquisition of IS Information Service GmbH, a leading provider of IP portfolio management offerings in Europe. The acquisition solidifies the company’s presence in the region and reinforces its commitment to this market.
“The acquisition of IS Information Service is a critical step to us achieving our goal of providing superior support and service to European clients on a long-term basis,” said Cynthia Murphy, vice president and general manager of Thomson IP Management Services. “IS Information Service has been our partner for more than a quarter of a century. We look forward to continuing its tradition of excellence in delivering localized software implementation and training support, as well as to expanding the breadth of our IP management offerings to corporations and law firms in this region.”
IS Information Service GmbH has served the European IP community since 1983 and is recognized as a leading provider of software implementation, configuration and consulting services for aligning IP strategy with business strategy. The company has developed several intellectual property management utilities that will be incorporated into Thomson IP Management Services’ solution suite, including local forms and an inventor compensation tracking tool.
”Today marks a key milestone in the expansion of IP management solutions throughout Europe,” said Dr. Reinhard Reck, owner and co-founder of IS Information Service. “With the direct support and resources of Thomson Reuters, we will be able to better serve the needs of existing clients, provide enhanced IP portfolio management offerings, and extend our footprint into new areas. We are very pleased to be part of Thomson IP Management Services.”
For more information on the IS Information Service GmbH acquisition, visit thomsonipmanagement.com.
Posted by Gretchen DeSutter in:
Company Current | In the News |
No Comments |
Share
Thomson Reuters, Legal, President & CEO Peter Warwick offered his perspective on the company’s approach to the current economic reality in a panel discussion, “Adapting and Thriving in a Challenging Economy”, at the Minnesota Venture & Finance Conference.
The launch of WestlawNext brings a significant advancement in the way professional legal research is done.
A discussion about online privacy and “The End of Forgetting,” with law professor Jeffrey Rosen.
