Posts Tagged: "patent"

USPTO Asks Whether AI Inventorship Uncertainty Requires Change

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is requesting public comments on artificial intelligence (AI) and inventorship via a Federal Register Notice published today, February 14. The Office has sought comment on the topic before, but not since its decision to deny patent protection to inventions created by Stephen Thaler’s artificial intelligence (AI) machine, DABUS. That decision was upheld by the district court and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) on appeal, but the CAFC in its decision left open the possibility that inventions made by human beings with the assistance of AI may be eligible for patent protection.

CAFC Says ChromaDex Patent Claiming Isolated Form of Vitamin B3 Fails Under 101

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) today issued a precedential decision affirming a Delaware court’s grant of summary judgment for Elysium Health that the asserted claims of ChromaDex, Inc.’s patent on an isolated form of vitamin B3 are directed to unpatentable subject matter under Section 101. Judge Prost authored the opinion. ChromaDex sells dietary supplements embodying the patent, which it licenses from Dartmouth College, and sued Elysium for patent infringement in 2018. Elysium moved for summary judgment that the claims were invalid under Section 101 and the district court agreed, finding that the claims were directed to a natural phenomenon, specifically, “compositions comprising isolated [NR], a naturally occurring vitamin present in cow milk.”

Here are the Democratic Members of the House IP Subcommittee for the 118th Congress

Shortly after the Republican membership of the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet was announced, Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), the Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, released the Democratic rosters for each subcommittee. Below, we profile the Democrats who will occupy the House IP Subcommittee during the 118th Congress, including Representatives hailing from a well-known research district in North Carolina and a California lawmaker whose home district lays claim to a major space R&D laboratory.

This Week in Washington IP: Hearings for New FCC Commissioner, Securing U.S. Cyberspace, and the Future of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act

This week in Washington IP news, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation begins hearings on the nomination of Gigi B. Sohn to be a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner, and the Senate Committee on Finance discusses eliminating counterfeits. Also, the Brookings Institute holds a panel discussion on the upcoming Supreme Court oral hearings for Gonzalez v. Google that will impact the future of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

PTAB Denial of IPR Petition Due to Conclusory Statements of Declarant Designated Precedential

On Friday, February 10, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Director Kathi Vidal designated as precedential an August 2022 decision of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) denying an inter partes review (IPR) petition due to the “conclusory statements” of the petitioner’s declarant. The PTAB held in IPR2022-00624 that Xerox Corp., et. al. failed to show that there was a reasonable likelihood it would prevail in proving unpatentability of the challenged claims of Bytemark, Inc.’s U.S. Patent No. 10,360,567 B2. The patent is titled, “Method and System for Distributing Electronic Tickets with Data Integrity Checking.”