Posts Tagged: "basf"

The Federal Circuit recently issued a nonprecedential decision in BASF Corporation v. Enthone, Inc. which vacated an earlier decision stemming from an inter partes review (IPR) proceeding at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) which had upheld a patent owned by Enthone as valid over an obviousness challenge asserted by BASF. The Federal Circuit panel of Circuit Judges Timothy Dyk, Evan Wallach and Richard Taranto remanded the case to the PTAB after holding that certain findings made by the PTAB were inadequately supported or explained.

Instead of following the same IP plan year after year, IP managers should focus their strategy on aligning their IP with their business, including developing a more concise IP plan, and switch to using smarter and modern analytics… IP managers must: (1) Start with the end in mind: IP is the business; (2) Build a plan, measure and manage and continuous improvement; and (3) Create an environment where your IP and business execs have access to timely actionable intelligence to support their decisions and strategies.

BASF is a very active acquirer of patents at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, placing 56th among all organizations worldwide with 752 U.S. patents received in 2014, a nearly 8 percent increase over its 2013 totals. The third quarter of 2015 saw BASF earn 183 U.S. patent grants from the USPTO, which represents a slightly lower pace of innovation than it enjoyed last year. One of the divisions within this German chemical corporation, which is dedicated to addressing the problem of insect pests, is BASF Pest Control Solutions. BASF produces such pesticides as Termidor termite defender and Alpine broad spectrum insecticide. Although the corporation is pulling back its investment in some areas, it recently opened a new facility in England to increase production of biochemical products designed for integrated pest management programs meant for agriculture and horticulture applications. BASF’s partnership with the University of Gottingen has lately yielded a new insecticide composition which has shown effectiveness against aphids, whiteflies and other sucking pests. Pesticides like this are just one part of an agrochemical market which some have predicted will eclipse $250 billion by the year 2020.