Process for Deboning a Turkey
US Patent No. 6,572,467 [ PDF ] [ HTML ]
Issued June 3, 2003 

Being in a festive mood on turkey day I thought I would profile this patent, which covers a process for deboning a turkey.  Happy Thanksgiving!

On Monday, November 24, 2008, CA announced the immediate availability of its CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2009. Each element of the suite, which includes a personal firewall, anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-spam and anti-phishing software has been enhanced to provide even stronger protection against a wide-range of emerging online threats. This latest edition of CA Internet Security also includes at no additional charge an Internet protection plan with coverage up to $10,000 in identity theft coverage and coverage against damage to the customer’s PCs caused by a computer virus. The available identity theft coverage safeguards data on 1 PC with Mobile Lifeline software, which includes complimentary identity theft protection worth up to $5,000 if the customer’s identity is compromised. Further, if a PC fails as a result of a virus infection after CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2009 is properly installed, the customer is eligible to receive up to $5,000 in technical service and/or hardware repair or replacement; this plan covers up to 5 PCs with a combined aggregate limit of $5,000.

On Monday, November 24, 2008, the Federal Trade Commission filed a petition for certiorari with the United States Supreme Court (see also Appendix Vol 1 and Appendix Vol 2) seeking review of the April 22, 2008 decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in Rambus Inc. v. Federal Trade Commission, which turned out to be a victory for Rambus due to the fact that the DC Circuit did not find any support in the record to support the FTC’s determinations that Rambus engaged in unfair and deceptive activities while participating in a standard-setting organization without disclosing its relevant patents.  The FTC had petitioned to seek a rehearing of the case by the entire DC Court of Appeals rather than just letting the panel decision stand, but this rehearing request was denied, thereby necessitating this appeal to the Supreme Court.

Something is seriously wrong at the United States Patent & Trademark Office, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to believe anything other than that there is ongoing unequal treatment of inventors who file patent applications. In the United States everyone is supposed to enjoy the same rights and privileges, and this concept manifests itself in the ideal that everyone is entitled to equal treatment under the laws. As the United States Supreme Court has explained, the Fourteenth Amendment requires that all persons subjected to legislation shall be treated alike, under like circumstances and conditions, both in the privileges conferred and in the liabilities imposed. When those who appear similarly situated are nevertheless treated differently, the Equal Protection Clause requires at least a rational reason for the difference, to assure that all persons subject to legislation or regulation are indeed being treated alike, under like circumstances and conditions. When it appears that an individual is being singled out by the government, the specter of arbitrary classification is fairly raised, and the Equal Protection Clause requires a rational basis for the difference in treatment. I see a lot of unequal treatment of patent applicants, and I see absolutely no rational basis for the difference, so I must conclude that the Patent Office is violating the law.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that RPX Corp will take on patent trolls. The trouble is that what RPX wants to do is raise money to acquire patents for defensive purposes. This is hardly something new, and it not something that those in the industry will tell you is calculated to succeed. You see, there just isn’t enough money to buy up all the relevant patents that patent trolls could get their hands on to use to sue. On top of that, with so many defensive portfolios popping up all over the place, and so many patent trolls bidding to acquire good patents, what is happening is the purchase price of acquiring those patents that are most likely to be used is going up, which means that more and more money needs to be dedicated to this losing effort. Not a wise strategy at all.

The United States Patent & Trademark Office has just released the 2008 Performance and Accountability Report, which is the annual report explaining the activities of the Office during fiscal year 2008.  While so much of the report is a self congratulating look back at what the Dudas Administration believes it effectively achieved over the past year, the report should be anything but self congratulating given the dire situation that the US Patent System faces moving forward.  As of the end of Fiscal Year 2008 there are 1,208,076 patent applications still pending at the Patent Office.  At the end of Fiscal Year 1997 the number of pending applications left over was only 275,295, so over the last 11 years there has been a  439% increase in the number of pending applications left over that could not be resolved.  That is alarming.  Each year since 1997 this number has gone up, first going over the 1 million mark in 2006.  As patent applications continue to pile up the US patent system is plunging further and further into irrelevance, and that is not a good thing for our economy or for the future of innovation.  Something needs to be done immediately to reverse this trend.

Increasingly on the Internet invention advertising is taking an odd and seemingly inexplicable turn toward advising independent inventors to not seek patent protection, which is undeniably bad advice that will undoubtedly cause much disappointment and heart break for those who actually follow it.  But why is it that you are starting to see more and more advertisements that say it is unnecessary to get a patent and you should simply forego that step? 

Arcutis Pharmaceuticals, a privately held specialty pharmaceutical organization focusing in medical dermatology, announced yesterday that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the new drug application (NDA) of Acanya Gel (clindamycin phosphate 1.2% and benzoyl peroxide 2.5%) for the once-daily treatment of acne vulgaris in patients 12 years and older. Evaluated in clinical studies enrolling over 3,200 subjects with moderate to severe acne, Acanya Gel is the only FDA-approved fixed combination antibiotic and benzoyl peroxide medication for once daily treatment of both non-inflammatory and inflammatory lesions of acne.

Statistics issued by the US Patent Office suggests that reexamination is the most successful way to challenge bad patents.  For example, ex partes reexamination is granted 92% of the time, with all claims being canceled in 10% of cases and at least some claims being changed in 64% of cases.  So for ex parte reexamination 9.2% of requests result in all claims being canceled and 59% of the time certificates issue with at least some claims being changed.  Even more astounding are the inter partes reexamination statistics.  Inter partes reexamination is granted 95% of the time, with all claims being canceled in 78% of cases and at least some claims being changes in 15% of cases.  This means that for inter partes reexamination 74% of requests result in all claims being canceled and 14% of the time certificates issue with at least some claims being changed.  This is staggering because if you can eliminate all claims then the patent is worthless, but even if you can only change claims you have effectively prevented retrospective infringement of changed claims because the claim that is changed can only be enforced moving forward from the point of change.  Thus, quality reexamination representation is far better than paying a bounty for the collection of prior art references. 

Aftermarket.com, a division of Thought Convergence, Inc. has announced the release of 100 noteworthy domain names to be featured in a simultaneous live and online auction. The auction will take place in Australia at T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Down Under, beginning Nov. 20, 2008 at 8:30 AM Australian time (Nov. 19, 2008, 2:30 PM PST).