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LONDON, May 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Thomson Reuters, the world’s leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals, today published two issues of World IP Today, analyzing global patent activity and technology innovations for the year 2007. Both reports draw on data mined from Thomson Innovation(SM), the new standard in IP research and analysis, and give a highly detailed view of recent IP developments across the globe.
“Thomson Reuters extensive data covering patenting activity across the world allows us to track new trends and technology developments as they emerge,” said Ben Lansbury, Patent Analyst, Thomson Reuters. “As countries become important players on the world stage, we can see spikes and increases in their patenting activities. Our reports reveal the dynamic nature of the IP sector and its vital importance to both global and national economies.”
World IP Today: A Thomson Reuters Report On Global Patent Activity in 2007 highlights patent output from the G8 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) plus China and South Korea. Findings indicate:
— Global patent activity has grown by 21% between 2003 and 2006, with
2007 proving to be yet another year of growth for patents.
— Japan is still the world’s leading filer of patents, but continues to
decline slowly. Its lead over the U.S. and China is eroding as their
patenting activity increases. China’s output has almost doubled in the
last 5 years.
— Academic innovations are at their highest ratio in China and Russia
where they represent nearly 25% of total patenting activity.
— South Korea safeguards more inventions worldwide than ever before,
while the U.S. has greatly decreased the number of patents it files
across the key patent regions.

World IP Today: A Thomson Reuters Report On Global Technology Innovations in 2007 reviews technology innovations developing globally in 2007, highlighting tri-lateral inventions or inventions that have been filed in the U.S., Europe and Japan. Among the key findings:
— Four areas of technology are truly exemplary in protecting high volumes
of inventions: consumer electronics, computing, telecommunications and
entertainment and business services technology.
— Protection for computing inventions in the three largest markets,
Japan, the U.S. and Europe, has been more prevalent than in other
technology sectors.
— Innovation within the computing industry is far more evenly distributed
between countries than with other technologies.
— Of the top ten patent assignees based on innovations filed in the
United States, Europe and Japan during 2007, most are from Japan.
— There has been a significant drop in innovation within the industrial,
audio/visual and data recording sectors between 2001 and 2007, as well
as a dramatic fall in the semiconductors field which decreased by 26%
during the same period.

For complete copies of the Thomson Reuters World IP Today reports, including the methodology behind the findings, please visit:
The Scientific business of Thomson Reuters provides information and knowledge to accelerate research, discovery and innovation. Our authoritative, accurate and timely information is essential for drug companies to discover new drugs and get them to market faster; researchers to find relevant papers and know what’s newly published in their subject; and businesses to optimize their intellectual property and find competitive intelligence. We create the research platforms and services of the future that will power our customers toward business and personal success.
About Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters is the world’s leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. We combine industry expertise with innovative technology to deliver critical information to leading decision makers in the financial, legal, tax and accounting, scientific, healthcare and media markets, powered by the world’s most trusted news organization. With headquarters in New York and major operations in London and Eagan, Minnesota, Thomson Reuters employs more than 50,000 people in 93 countries. Thomson Reuters shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange ; Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: TRI); London Stock Exchange ; and Nasdaq . For more information, go to .
Scientific business of Thomson Reuters

ARLINGTON, Va., April 24 /PRNewswire/ — The Washington business Journal is pleased to announce the Top 50 Best Places to Work in Greater Washington for 2008:
— AIS (Applied Information Sciences)
— Akridge
— Allstate Insurance Company, Capital Region
— Argy, Wiltse & Robinson, P.C.
— Aronson & Company
— Balfour Beatty Construction
— BE&K Building Group
— Bingham McCutchen LLP
— Boland
— Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co.
— Capterra
— Cassaday & Company, Inc.
— Cocke, Szpanka & Taylor, CPAs, PC
— CresaPartners
— Crucial Security, Inc.
— Dataprise, Inc.
— Dickstein Shapiro LLP
— Distributive Networks
— ENSCO, INC.
— Gensler
— Global Engineering Solutions, Inc.
— HITT Contracting Inc.
— Howrey LLP
— Hunton & Williams LLP
— James G. Davis Construction Corporation
— Jones Lang LaSalle
— Kearney & Company
— Kimpton Hotels & Restaurant Group
— KPMG, LLP
— Mark G Anderson Consultants
— Miller and Smith, Inc.
— Morrison & Foerster LLP
— Ntiva, Inc.
— Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman
— PricewaterhouseCoopers
— Quadrant, Inc.
— Quest Diagnostics Inc.
— rand* construction corporation
— Sightline Marketing
— Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP
— Spider Strategies
— STUDLEY
— Systems Planning and Analysis, Inc.
— TerpSys
— The Meltzer Group
— The Peterson Companies
— The Staubach Company — Northeast, Inc.
— Turner Construction Company & Tompkins Builders
— ViON Corporation
— Vocus, Inc.

The Best Places to Work Awards is an event representing the excellent spirit and diverse characteristics of the many top companies across our region. The winners will be ranked according to four categories: Small, Medium, Large local and Large non-local, for companies whose headquarters are not located in the Greater Washington area.
The Washington business Journal, along with sponsors Littler Mendelson, Quantum Market Research, and Reznick Group will announce the rankings of the winners at a breakfast awards program on Friday, June 13 at the McLean Hilton hotel at 7:30 a.m. Also, winning companies will be profiled in the June 20 edition of the Washington business Journal.
To register for this event and for more information please visit: . Questions concerning the event can be directed to Lauren Perusse at 703-258-0889 or
The Washington business Journal is owned and operated by American City business Journals, the nation’s largest publisher of metropolitan business newspapers. American City business Journals also includes Bizjournals, the new media division, which operates the Web sites for each of the company’s 41 print business journals. The Washington business Journal has been Greater Washington’s leading source of business news and information for more than 20 years, providing over 150,000 business executives with comprehensive news on local people and their companies, as well as industry trends, tips and strategies and award-winning critical analysis. For more information, please visit http://washington.bizjournals.com.
The Washington business Journal

WASHINGTON, April 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Louisiana’s legal climate is ranked as the second worst in the country, according to Lawsuit Climate 2008: Ranking the States, the annual assessment of state liability systems conducted by Harris Interactive, a leading national market research firm, and released today by the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (ILR).
Louisiana ranked 49th out of 50 states in the study, down one spot from the previous year. In addition, New Orleans/Orleans Parish was named among the ten least fair and reasonable court systems in the country.
“Louisianans have a unique opportunity to turn things around. While the state is off to a good start in improving its business climate, even more can be done,” said Tom Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
He noted that Governor Jindal and the Louisiana Legislature have already taken steps to address the state’s business climate, adopting tough new ethics standards to root out corruption, and repealing outdated taxes which stymied business development.
But the state also needs to “take a comprehensive look at fixing the broken lawsuit system,” Donohue said, pointing out that Louisiana has languished near the bottom of the legal climate rankings since ILR and Harris began conducting the state liability system study seven years ago.
According to Donohue, Louisianans need look no further than their neighbors to the east in Mississippi, and their neighbors to the west in Texas. Both states have enacted comprehensive tort reforms, and both states are reaping economic benefits because of it, he said.
The study is the preeminent standard by which companies, policymakers and the media measure the legal climate of states.
A separate survey of Louisiana business owners found 89 percent believe frivolous lawsuits are a serious problem, 58 percent think the number of unfair lawsuits against businesses in Louisiana will increase over the next five years, and 69 percent want the Louisiana Legislature to enact new laws to help protect business from unfair and frivolous suits.
“The best thing Louisiana can do to attract business is to have a balanced legal system,” Donohue said. “An unfair legal system sucks the life out of a state’s economy. It slows business expansion, it kills jobs and it takes money out of consumers’ pockets.”
Donohue noted that the Louisiana Legislature is considering several reform measures, including junk science and asbestos litigation reforms.
ILR is launching a national advertising campaign highlighting the results of the study and the need for comprehensive legal reform, including television, radio, print and online ads in Louisiana.
Harris asked 957 senior attorneys to evaluate up to five states in which they were “very” or “somewhat familiar” with that state’s litigation environment. Survey respondents assigned each state a letter grade for each of 12 different factors affecting the states’ tort liability system, ranging from the overall treatment of tort and contract litigation to judges’ competence and impartiality. Harris computed an overall score for each state based on these evaluations, then compiled the scores into a ranking of the states.
The survey of 255 Louisiana business owners, 86 percent of them small businesses with fewer than 20 employees, was conducted by Public Opinion Strategies earlier this month. It has a margin of error of /- 7 percent.
ILR’s mission is to make America’s legal system simpler, fairer, and faster for everyone. It seeks to promote civil justice reform through legislative, political, judicial, and educational activities at the national, state, and local levels. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world’s largest business federation, representing more than 3 million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region.
The full Harris report and POS survey of Louisiana business owners are available online at .
U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform

WASHINGTON, April 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — An hour-long Internet coaching session aimed at sharpening communications skills for business owners will be presented by Granville Toogood, a former network news producer for NBC and ABC on April 24, from 11 a.m. to noon. The free seminar is sponsored by the U.S. Small business Administration, Financial Times newspaper and Liminal Group, a company co-founded by Toogood.
During the “Leadership Communications” coaching session, broadcast live from New York, Toogood will present tips on speaking effectively with employees, customers, bankers and colleagues at any venue, from a boardroom to a stage in front of a large audience. Demonstrations on steering a meeting and negotiating deals, inspiring employees, and speaking with confidence will be presented during the session.
“Developing the ability to stay on message and convince an audience — be it one customer or a room full of potential investors — is a skill business owners must cultivate in order to succeed,” said SBA Administrator Steve Preston. “This seminar will provide another useful tool for entrepreneurs interested in improving their skills.”
For more information about the event and registration, call 212-546-4625 or visit .
Toogood has coached executives and managers from Deloitte & Touche, Morgan Stanley, Swiss Bank, Northrop Grumman, the New York Stock Exchange, and CitiGroup. A former reporter for Life magazine, Toogood has written several bestselling books on leadership and business communications.
The Financial Times is recognized as one of the world’s’ leading business publications, with a readership of 1.3 million people in over 110 countries.
Co-founded by Toogood in 2003, the Liminal group is a partnership of executive coaches and organizational consultants helping individuals and corporations position themselves as leaders in their industries.
U.S. Small business Administration

COLUMBIA, Mo., April 29 /PRNewswire/ — Bernie Kohn, assistant managing editor of business for The Baltimore Sun, was named president of the Society of American business Editors and Writers during its annual conference on Monday.
Greg McCune, training editor for Reuters, became vice president. Rob Reuteman, business editor of the Rocky Mountain News, became treasurer. Kevin Noblet, former business editor for the Associated Press, became secretary.
SABEW, a 501(c)(3) organization with 3,500 members, is the leading trade group for business journalists. Formed in 1964 to promote superior coverage of business and economic events and issues, it is the only business journalism association for editors and writers. SABEW is headquartered in Columbia, Mo., at the School of Journalism at the University of Missouri.
The three officers assumed their new jobs at the organization’s 45th annual conference in Baltimore. Gail DeGeorge, Sunday editor of The Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., completed her year-long term as president at the conference.
SABEW members also elected three new board members, each serving three-year terms, to the Board of Governors:
— Cliff Cumber, business editor of the Frederick News-Post in Maryland;
— Beth Hunt, manager of editorial operations for American City Business
Journals;
— David Morrow, editor of TheStreet.com;

Three incumbent governors were re-elected:
— Ray Hennessey, director of business news, Fox business Network;
— Gail MarksJarvis, columnist for the Chicago Tribune;
— Dawn Wotapka, a reporter for Dow Jones Newswires.

The new and re-elected governors join these current members of SABEW’s board:
— Becky Bisbee, business editor, Seattle Times;
— Bill Choyke, business editor, Virginian-Pilot;
— John Corrigan, deputy business editor, Los Angeles Times;
— Diana Henriques, financial reporter, The New York Times;
— Lisa Gibbs, executive business editor, The Miami Herald;
— Andre Jackson, an editorial writer for the Atlanta Constitution;
— Josh Mills, journalism professor, Baruch College/CUNY;
— Chris Roush, journalism professor, UNC-Chapel Hill;
— Jill Jorden Spitz, assistant managing editor for news, business and
training, Arizona Daily Star;
— Susan Tompor, finance columnist, Detroit Free Press;
— David Wilson, columnist, Bloomberg News;
— Pamela Yip, personal finance reporter and columnist, Dallas Morning
News.

Society of American business Editors and Writers

ARLINGTON, Va., April 30 /PRNewswire/ — The Washington business Journal awarded 12 real estate projects in the Washington area as the “Best Real Estate Deals of 2007″ on Thursday evening at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. The “Best Real Estate Deals of 2007″ event celebrates the Washington area’s premiere real estate projects of the previous year. A cocktail reception and award ceremony, sponsored by Beers Cutler and Reed Smith, honored all 47 finalists and announced the winners of each category. This year a separate “green” award, sponsored by Systems Furniture, was given to The Tower Companies for their commitment to advancing environmentally friendly practices in the industry. The finalists of each category are featured in this week’s edition of the Washington business Journal. The winning projects include:
Architecture
Shakespeare Theatre Harman Center for the Arts and the International
Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftsworkers Headquarters, Washington

Community Impact
The Shops at Park Village, Washington

Financing
National Harbor, Oxon Hill

Industrial/Flex Use
Sale of Heatwole & Miller industrial portfolio

Land Deal
MacFarlane Partners/Morgan Stanley fund/JBG Cos. joint venture

Multifamily Sales/Development
The Wooster and Mercer Lofts, Arlington

New Office Development
505 Ninth St. NW, Washington

Office Lease/Suburban
Volkswagen at Woodland Point, Herndon

Office Lease/Urban
Mayer Brown at 1999 K St. NW

Office Sale
Waterview office building, Arlington

Rehab/Renovation/Re-Use
Parker Flats at Gage School, Washington

Retail Deal
Old Town Village Fairfax

For more information please contact Kristen Teesdale at 703-258-0866 or .
The Washington business Journal is owned and operated by American City business Journals, the nation’s largest publisher of metropolitan business newspapers. American City business Journals also includes Bizjournals, the new media division, which operates the Web sites for each of the company’s 41 print business journals. The Washington business Journal has been Greater Washington’s leading source of business news and information for more than 20 years, providing over 150,000 business executives with comprehensive news on local people and their companies, as well as industry trends, tips and strategies and award-winning critical analysis. For more information, please visit .
The Washington business Journal