Patents From Hollywood to Cincinnati

PatentLawImage064

Here are the opening lines of the new NBC show "Harry's Law.”

Partner: In less than a month, you have gone from being one of the best patent lawyers in the country, much less Cincinnati. And now… What the hell has happened?

Harry: Well, what's happened is that after 32 years of dedicated practice, I have come to the unfortunate if not altogether surprising conclusion that patent law is as boring as a big bowl of steam dog sh__.  It's dull Robert, I lead a dull life, with dull partners. I'd sooner look into a mirror and watch my teeth rot than do one more case involving patent law.

Partner: I'm afraid this is the end, Harry… You're fired.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/207640/harrys-law-pilot.

PatentLawImage065The show was created by David E. Kelley. Kelley is a co-inventor on Patent No. 6,039,710 that claims an “apparatus for providing facial support” in order to reduce “sagging of the cheeks.”

Clearly, the firing partner is channeling Cincinnati patent lawyer Stephen Albainy-Jenei. My question is, which Frost-Brown-Todd attorney served as the model for the show's lead?

 

 

46 thoughts on “Patents From Hollywood to Cincinnati

  1. 44

    Note at the end of the episode though Harry (short for Harriet?) is already taking on another patent case.

    That part made me like “wait wut?” I thought she didn’t want to do anymore patent stuff. I guess her newly hung shingle is making her open up to other kinds of work.

  2. 43

    My mother called me after watching the opening scene of Harry’s Law to make sure I heard what she had to say about Patents. We got a little chuckle out of it, but I don’t think it did the profession any favors… 🙂

  3. 42

    I cannot confirm nor deny that Lemley has been slotted in a guest role as a troll on an episode entitled “Under the Bridge.”

  4. 39

    So Bruceie maybe…. you have that little HO Scale yellow thingee I made? So when you left it was with something that belonged to me?
    That is the whole organization right?

  5. 38

    I just finished watching, I thought it was pretty good overall. The young dude in court and immediately thereafter with the other attorney reminds me of how I operate. Little bit of theatre just to set the stage, and then when the time is right everyone goes home happy.

  6. 37

    Chicks dig me, because I rarely wear underwear and when I do it’s usually something unusual. But now I know why I have always lost women to guys like you. I mean, it’s not just the uniform. It’s the stories that you tell. So much fun and imagination.

  7. 36

    Guess what clever boy – you Fd up and only proved that you were not all that. Your feeble attempts at coverin your f-up only dig the hole deeper.

    Lighten up, Francis.

  8. 35

    On a more topical note, my favorite patent-attorney-in-the-movies is the one who helps the David Bowie character make a fortune by patenting alien technologies in The Man Who Fell to Earth. I’ll bet Michael R Thomas has got a few thoughts about that.

  9. 34

    O I get it alrighty (then).

    You be the one who thinks he gets it, who thinks he be all clever and falutin – usin words like “patois”.

    Guess what clever boy – you Fd up and only proved that you were not all that. Your feeble attempts at coverin your f-up only dig the hole deeper.

    Keep at it Sunshine – bring the chuckles. Thes be the delicious type of the ones who think way too highly of themselves.

  10. 32

    Ping, my dear Ping, one of us just doesn’t get it, and we’ll never agree which one of us that is, so adieu and Godspeed.

  11. 31

    I just figured out…

    Have you figured out yet that ya used the word incorrectly? And ya say that i cant help myself? Ya be the one keepin this discussion O you bein wrong goin.

    Yet you still feel a need to think that you’re all that. Really, ya be a bit full of yourself there Harry O.

    Time to recalibrate.

  12. 30

    Thank you Patrick! Finally I learn the reason why David E. Kelly hates patent lawyers: he’s bashed them on Ally McBeal, The Practice, Boston Legal and now this show (for all I know he did the same on his earlier shows, but I didn’t see it). I figured he was just a jealous non-IP attorney, rather than a disgruntled inventor whose patent didn’t bring him wealth and fame.

  13. 29

    You just can’t help yourself, can you Ping?

    And you know what else? I just figured out that the reason for this whole exchange is that you had to look up what “patois” means in the first place!

    Sometimes I just can’t help myself either…

  14. 28

    Sigh. Ya know what they say when certain people feel the need to overcompensate, doncha?

    Oh, I get it now. And I thought Harry was just admitting that he was overweight.

  15. 27

    Harry O

    Ya can call it “creative, context-appropriate use of words” all ya like, but ya still be wrong.

    That creative use be limited to spec writing, not blog writing.

    Ping, you don’t HAVE to rise to that…

    You be right on that, I don’t have to RISE, I be havin to STOOP ta get down to your comment level.

    but not in the way you probably meant

    Sigh. Ya know what they say when certain people feel the need to overcompensate, doncha?

    Your kind O internet braggin just means the opposite. So Mr. Johnson’s a midget, ya got worse problems than that Harry O.

  16. 26

    “Patent law is for people who find accountancy too exciting”

    I’m considering a career change to lion taming, perhaps via insurance or banking.

    Seriously though, I’d definitely take a career in patent law over one as a secretary or a babysitter, even for the same pay. Clients are entitled to find it boring because they pay someone else to do it anyway, and colleagues who find it boring are free to leave at any time.

  17. 22

    For me, “boring” or not is almost entirely dependent on the types of clients I’m working for and the technologies they work in. Mid-to-small entities apply a different calculus in determining whether to file a patent or not and tend to file more, let’s say, “inventive” applications.

    But, of course, I love all my (paying) clients equally.

  18. 21

    “Patent law is for people who find accountancy too exciting”
    I never went along with that myself. Of course, the creative, context-appropriate use of words like “patois” outside their strict dictionary meaning has no place in patent law.
    Ping, you don’t HAVE to rise to that…
    (Too big for my britches? I certainly am, but not in the way you probably meant)

  19. 20

    Is baby sitting boring? Harriet, do your baby sitters dismiss patent law as “boring” because they simply have no idea what it is all about? How often do kids dismiss as “boring” stuff which, later in life, when they know a bit more, engages their full and passionate attention?

  20. 17

    Yes, Harriet, because in your imaginary world, each of your baby sitters, secretaries, “colleagues” and “clients” were knowledgable on patent law. Just as knowledgable as you have shown yourself to be.

  21. 16

    I’ve gotten “patent law is boring” comments from clients, colleagues, secretaries, and baby sitters.

  22. 15

    “One time I was standing on a Metro platform talking to a summer associate when a passing stranger told us “patent law is boring”. I would surmise that he was probably a lawyer, as there are more lawyers in Washington than you could shake a stick at, whatever that may mean. ”

    I could tooooootaaaally see that happening.

  23. 14

    Cheryl is undubitably correct.

    One time I was standing on a Metro platform talking to a summer associate when a passing stranger told us “patent law is boring”. I would surmise that he was probably a lawyer, as there are more lawyers in Washington than you could shake a stick at, whatever that may mean.

  24. 12

    I saw the show by chance last night. The main character is a patent-litigator-turned-pro-bono-criminal-defense-lawyer. Legal issues in the show are completely absurd and unrealistic, as you would expect from Hollywood.

  25. 11

    You too Harry-o

    Drop in again sometime when ya can stay longer and do try ta be too big for your britches again – Love that kind O chuckles.

  26. 8

    (a) ya did – my “style” aint a dialect.

    (b) who cares? I certainly did not point out a mere spelling error, and let me check – yup, nobody else did either. Funny – ya care more about a spelliing error than actually using a fancy term correctly.

    (c) You should care, as ya look like a dufas.

    The expert has spoken.” Now that ya chimed in there Sunshine, Yep. And doncha have windmills to chase? Itza Tuesday after all.

  27. 6

    As an aside, I believe the character played by Krakouer (sp?) applied for the Kelley invention covered by the patent in-show.

  28. 5

    That happens when ya try too hard to appear smarter than ya actually are.

    The expert has spoken.

  29. 4

    Thanks for the chuckles Harry-O

    BTW – ya used “patois” incorrectly.

    That happens when ya try too hard to appear smarter than ya actually are.

  30. 3

    I’d sooner look into a mirror and watch my teeth rot than read one mor post written in ping’s bizarre and chuckle-free patois

  31. 1

    Wowza, I didn’t know Cincinnati was the hub of patent law…

    …O wait – it be the hub of boring patent law, as all boring cases be moved there.

    Hollywood and patent bashing – I think Lemley may have a guest spot soon.

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