Happy Birthday Patently-O

Today is the three-year anniversary of the Patently-O Blog. It all started on April 6, 2004.  We now have 1400+ posts covering every precedential patent appeal and Supreme Court decision during this time.

I’m amazed at the popularity of the site — especially considering that the site is primarily directed to the relatively small group of attorneys practicing patent law and patent litigation (about 30,000 persons).  In all, there have been over 3 million visits.  These visits come from virtually every technology-related Fortune 1000 company, every law firm with at least five patent attorneys on staff, and many many other sources.  Recently a larger number of Patent Examiners have begun to read the site as well.  The graph below falls-short because it does not include the 8,000+ attorneys and agents who have signed-up to receive Patently-O through an e-mail or an RSS-reader.

25 thoughts on “Happy Birthday Patently-O

  1. 25

    ………and I’m a European Patent Attorney Dennis and also enjoy your blog on an almost daily basis. Savour the big response you draw, on items like “Continuation Rules”. You’re getting to be more of an institution every day. What a disappointment it will be, if ever you falter and grow weary of it all. So: Happy birthday and Many Happy Returns. You used to exhibit a photo of yourself. Don’t be bashful. Can’t you find room for an updated image – how about a slightly more urbane and professorial Dennis Crouch?

  2. 24

    Congratulations and Happy Birthday!

    Dennis, I am a Chinese Patent Agent, and I read your blog on a daily frequency. It is one of my primary source of information in learning U.S. patent case law. I, as many others, appreciate your great effort on keeping this.

  3. 23

    Thanks to Lon for pointing out that we lowly agents read this too! Just wanted you to know that there is more than one AND we really find the blog useful as well!

    You made it through the terrible two’s – congratulations. As noted by someone else, I don’t know where you find the time….

  4. 22

    Congratulations and Happy Birthday, Patently-O. I read your blog daily and it is one of my primary sources of information in trying to keep up with our everchanging field. Thanks for keeping it free, interesting and relevant.

  5. 21

    I follow only three blogs, Dennis, so you made it passed a pretty tight cut. Well done with this site.

  6. 18

    Dennis, this has become the leading blog for patent attorneys entirely due to all the hard work, knowledge and uncommon good sense you have put into it.

  7. 17

    Congratulations Dennis. Your work has led the way in disseminating important information to the US IP community and fostered many important discussions.
    May Patently-O continue for many more years to come.

  8. 16

    Dennis:

    Congratulations. Some patent agents also find your site to be extremely valuable! I suspect that more would if they knew about it.

  9. 14

    Congratulations, Dennis! on providing valuable information on IP and IP litigations through your Patently _O (Original) blog. The information you are providing and sharing with the IP community is really very useful and will further the knowledge dissemination across the globe and thus bring many more literates in this area of intellectual commerce. Best of luck in your efforts.

  10. 13

    Since your visits graph has an almost straight line shape after January 1, 2006 it seems to say that your readership has been stable since that time.

    For someone who is not a patent attorney I find the blog interesting on an important public policy issue, although I do think that the blog could be more sceptical about the status quo – there is much that needs review and improvement.

  11. 12

    At least you are aware of the fact that you missed out on patenting this thing by 2 years! Keep up the good work!

  12. 11

    How do you know there are 8,000 people reading through RSS readers? Is that 8,000 unique IP addresses requesting the RSS feed? My guess is most people who read through RSS are now usinga service like Google Reader — there is no way (that I know) to figure out how many people read through those services.

  13. 8

    You mentioned the attorneys and examiners that read the blog…but don’t forget the law students! We love this blog; Happy Birthday!

  14. 7

    Many thanks and happy birthday to this blog. I like the “O.” It reminds me of of the days we passed around that notorious story of “O” during high school.

  15. 6

    Thanks Dennis. Your blog is fanastic and I really appreciate what you’ve done.

    With my cup of coffee raised, “Happy Birthday. Here’s to you, your blog and many more birthdays”

  16. 4

    Happy birthday! The site is a fantastic resource. I’m very grateful to you for your hard work in keeping the rest of us well informed and providing us with opportunity for useful discussion. Don’t ever change!

  17. 3

    Congratulations Dennis:
    You’ve created the most pragmatic resource for inventors to learn about protecting “the exclusive Right” to their discoveries;

    Now if the Supremes visited Patently-O, they’d learn there is more to IP concerns than myths about gnomes and raccoons. For example, they could learn from the Community what the Framers meant by:

    “The Congress shall have Power … To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;”

    If the Supremes did their homework, they’d learn and that there are authorized exceptions to “the exclusive Right” constraint — only those exceptions found in the Constitution itself; i.e., To:

    “provide for the common defence,” permits wartime exceptions;

    “promote the general Welfare” permits health exceptions; and,

    “regulate Commerce” permits anti-trust exceptions.
    ____________________________________________

  18. 1

    All this success with the horrid name “Patently-O”!!

    Now that, dear friends, is really saying something about the quality of this site.

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