Posts Tagged: "John DiMatteo"

Industry Reaction to SCOTUS Granting Cert. in Oil States

Russ: Slifer: ”Clearly the Supreme Court is not done with its intellectual property obsession. By granting certiorari in Oil States vs. Greene’s Energy Group, et al. the Court has agreed to address the questions of constitutionality of post grant reviews, the amendment process implemented by the USPTO, and how the USPTO applies the broadest reasonable interpretation to claims. Some commentators believe that this is a good sign for patent owners and the end of IPR’s. I don’t anticipate, however, that the Court will shift in a pro-patent direction and gut a cornerstone of the AIA. This will most likely be one of the rare cases where the Supreme Court substantially affirms the CAFC.”

Patent Exhaustion at the Supreme Court: Industry Reaction to Impression Products v. Lexmark

Bob Stoll: ”And it is the international exhaustion holding that is particularly troubling. Sales abroad act independently from the US patent system and there is no impact from the US patent system on those sales. Yet in this decision, the Supreme Court says that the foreign sale now diminishes patent rights in the US. All sorts of goods, including life-saving pharmaceuticals, are sold at lower prices in poor nations. This decision will encourage powerful foreign groups to gather products up and send them back to the US to get the higher prices. Or, companies will not be able to lower prices and sell their products in those countries. Both the poor in distant lands and the innovators in the US will suffer.”

Copyrights at the Supreme Court: Star Athletica v. Varsity Brands

On Wednesday, March 22nd, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a decision in a copyright case, which clarifies federal copyright law surrounding whether features incorporated into the design of a useful article are eligible for copyright protection. In a 6-2 decision, the Supreme Court held in Star Athletica, LLC v. Varsity Brands, Inc. that such features are eligible for copyright protection if they can be perceived as a work of art separate from the useful article and would qualify as an protectable work if imagined separately from the useful article.