Who will be the Apple v Samsung law blogger of record?

A trial such as the Samsung v Apple trial beginning this week in Silicon Valley seems awful ripe for a law blog dedicated to covering the trial and likely appeal.

Apple Inc.’s claims that Samsung Electronics Co.’s smartphones and computer tablets are illegal knockoffs of the iPhone and iPad is going to draw as much business press attention and Internet discussion as any trial in quite a while. It already has.

I am not talking of a lawyer sitting in a San Jose courtroom. I am talking of an IP litigation lawyer or law firm who will decide to curate news and insight coming from mainstream media, blogs, and Twittter. Then offer insight/commentary ‘over the top’ of the curated info.

If time is an issue, and it could be, get some law or journalism interns. You would not need to pay a lot for folks who get the opportunity to work on such a unique and high profile project.

A resource managed by a knowledgeable lawyer serving as an intelligent agent separating the wheat from the chafe would be widely followed and give such a lawyer or firm a name that would long be remembered — and, assuming it was done well, would cast them in good light in the IP arena forever.

Sound nuts? I remember when Henry Abbot, then running a New Jersey PR firm came to me in 2005 looking to learn how to blog. He believed blogging was going to take off and wanted to bring blogging to his clients. But first he needed to learn how to blog and what blogging was all about.

I told him to find something he was passionate about and to sink his teeth into it. Abbott was passionate about the NBA. He was a former local sports reporter in Madison, Wisconsin and was still writing some articles for NBA game programs in a magazine called ‘ Hoop.’

There was no way Henry could cover the NBA. I advised Abbott to follow leading sports writers covering the NBA and the few sports bloggers we then had doing the same.

Curate the best the content by team, rounds in the playoff, and by each round in the draft. The coverage varied by time of the year.

The blog, True Hoop, was born. 18 months later ESPN bought True Hoop for a substantial and Abbott was on his way to Las Vegas to cover the NBA All-Star game the next day. Abbott now serves as a senior sportswriter for ESPN and still runs True Hoop, one of the most widely read sports blog.

Abbott’s value to ESPN was not just in being in a good sportswriter. His value was influence and relationships with those covering and dealing with the NBA – the mainstream media and what we now call social media folks, sports agents, NBA officials, and players. Abbott had reach and could draw attention and traffic to ESPN.com in large part because he curated and highlighted the best content others produced.

Cover Apple v Samsung and who are you going to build relationships and influence with?

• Mainstream media and bloggers covering the tech industry.
• Practicing lawyers, some whose insight you’ll curate and others who will follow you.
• In-house counsel in the tech and IP sector.
• Law professors and law students, again some whose content you’ll curate and others who’ll follow you.
• Business people in the technology sector.

And these folks will not be from just the United States, they’ll be from all over the world. Gold for an IP lawyer or law firm.

Niche beyond niche? Sure, but you’ll not be forgotten as a leading lawyer or law firm in the field.

Too big? Too audacious a goal? Too time consuming? Too expensive? Perhaps.

But imagine if guys like Henry Abbot and Tom Goldstein, who started the SCOTUSblog, didn’t ask, “Why not?”

What was never before possible is now possible with the Internet and the power of blogging.

PS — Want to discuss? I’m ready.