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Other Barks & Bites for Friday, July 3: Busy Week for USPTO Announcements, New Vision Gaming Says PTAB Institution Process is Unconstitutional, Federal Circuit Affirms Invalidity of Enbrel Patent Claims
This week in Other Barks & Bites: the Federal Circuit affirms the invalidation of patent claims covering the rheumatoid arthritis treatment Enbrel using a novel argument on obviousness-type …
Tales from the Trenches: Structuring IP and Technology Acquisitions
As we emerge from a global pandemic in which many businesses are mothballed or operating at limited capacity, we know that a great number will not survive. …
Unified Patents Seeks Legal Interns
Unified Patents is now accepting applications for legal internship and fellowship positions for assisting with its legal and database activities, including PATROLL prior art search contests. This …
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A Dubious Decision: Eleventh Circuit Finds Scraping of Data from a Public Website Can Constitute Theft of Trade Secrets (Part I)
Much has already been written in a relatively short period of time since the Eleventh Circuit decided Compulife Software, Inc. v. Newman, __ F.3d __, 2020 WL 2549505, (11th Cir. …
Patent Filings Roundup: Landmark Brings 250th Complaint; Medtronic and Infinera Fall Victim to Board’s Discretionary Denial Parallel Petition Rule
Apologies for taking last week’s Father’s Day week off—here’s hoping you all had a restful week with your families and friends and are …
Lessons on Patent Subject Matter Eligibility from Dropbox v. Synchronoss
Since the Supreme Court decided Alice Corporation Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank International et al. on June 19, 2014, the number of patent application rejections by the U.S. …
Bilski and Its Expansion of the Abstract Idea Exception: A Failure to Define
The Supreme Court's Bilski v. Kappos decision—which celebrated its 10th birthday this past weekend—still matters, even in the age of Mayo-Alice. For one thing, the …
Supreme Court Declines to Consider PTAB Authority to Overturn Article III Decisions
On June 30, the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari to Chrimar Systems, Inc., thereby letting stand a decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the …
Federal Circuit Affirms PTAB’s Conclusion of Obviousness on Grounds of Common Sense
On June 26, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a final written decision of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent …
The Consumer is King: High Court Sides with Booking.com, Rejecting Per Se Test for Generic.Com Trademarks
The U.S. Supreme Court has sided with Booking.com, ruling that a generic term paired with .com “is a generic name for a class of goods …
Intellectual Property and Bankruptcy: The IP Value Proposition that Startups Should Not Overlook During Financial Distress
The international economic disruption caused by COVID-19 presents unprecedented challenges. Thriving tech startup companies worth millions in January might find themselves struggling to stay afloat today. This …
Eighth Circuit Finds ‘Hot Pocket’ Patents Were Not Fraudulently Obtained
On June 18, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (the circuit court) affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment in Inline Packaging, …
Copyright Office Begins Period of Petitioning for Exemptions to Section 1201 of the DMCA
On June 22, the U.S. Copyright Office published a request for petitions in the Federal Register, which officially kicked off the eighth triennial rulemaking process for temporary …
This Week in Washington: Digitized Payment Systems, Operation Warp Speed and Changing American Tech
This week in our nation’s capital, the Senate Banking Committee holds a hearing on introducing decentralized ledger technologies into government payment systems while the Senate Labor …
Federal Circuit Agrees with PTAB that Firebug’s Footwear Claims Are Obvious
On June 25, the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) affirmed an appeal from two final written decisions of the United States Patent and …
Ten Years From Bilski: The Beginning of the End, with No Improvement in Sight
Ten years ago today, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down what at the time was one of the most important patent decisions in decades. It signaled …
Illegal Circulation of E-Newspapers Online and Through Messaging Apps: Implications for Copyright and Contractual Violations
On March 25, 2020, the Indian government declared lockdown throughout the country, and we could not have anticipated the number of issues across all sectors that would surface in …
Other Barks & Bites for Friday, June 26: SCOTUS Denies Cert to PTAB Challenges, CAFC Issues Three New Precedential Patent Decisions, and Ninth Circuit Revives The Shape of Water Copyright Case
This week in Other Barks & Bites: the House of Representatives approves a bill by voice vote which would enable the sale of acceleration certificates for patent applications …
3M Targets N95 Respirator Company’s Alleged Price-Gouging Scheme via Trademark Infringement Suit
On April 10, multinational corporation 3M filed a lawsuit alleging trademark infringement claims against N95 respirator distributor Performance Supply, LLC, in the Southern District of New York. Central …
EU Court Says Amazon Not Liable for Unwitting Third-Party Trademark Infringement
On April 2, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued a ruling absolving e-commerce giant Amazon.com of trademark infringement allegations brought by a German …
Q1 2020 Patent Litigation Filings Show Western District of Texas is the New Venue of Choice
Our regularly published litigation report shows that, for the first quarter of 2020, just over 80% of the cases filed in West Texas were brought by NPEs, with only …
In Memoriam: Q. Todd Dickinson
It is with tremendous sadness that I write today to say that Q. Todd Dickinson passed away on Sunday, May 3, 2020. As I choke back tears, staring at …
Senator Thom Tillis: If IP Stakeholders Can’t Find Consensus, Congress Can’t Help
Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) arguably has more pressing issues to focus on than intellectual property at the moment, as the nation scrambles to find solutions to the …
Uniloc Patent Claims Vindicated Under Alice at Federal Circuit
Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, in an opinion authored by Judge Moore, reversed and remanded a decision of the U.S. …
Time to Fix U.S. Innovation Policy to Ensure We’re Prepared for the Next Pandemic
"The COVID-19 crisis has once more highlighted the need for incentivizing investment and innovation—and thus, for patent laws that duly “promote” and protect such “progress,” precisely …
Supreme Court: PTAB Institution Decisions Cannot Be Appealed, Even on the Basis of Time-Bar Challenges
In an opinion authored by Justice Ginsburg, the Supreme Court ruled today that Section 314 (d) of the U.S. Patent Act, which bars judicial review of Patent …
Amici Urge Supreme Court to Grant Celgene’s Petition on Constitutionality of Retroactive IPRs
Law professors recently filed an amicus brief in support of the Celgene's petition for writ of certiorari to take up Celgene Corp v. Peter on appeal from …
Ericsson v. TCL Lays Bare the Federal Circuit’s Fundamental Hostility to Patents
It has become difficult to understand why the Federal Circuit does what it does in any number of rulings, but its decisions relating to patent eligibility have …
Booking.com Oral Arguments: Will Justices’ Skepticism of USPTO Arguments Trump Monopoly Concerns?
The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in United States Patent and Trademark Office, et al., v. Booking.com B.V., (Case No. 19-46) yesterday, in …
USTR Special 301 Report and Review of Notorious Markets Highlight Continued Concerns with China
On April 29, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) released its 2020 Special 301 Report on Intellectual Property Protection and its 2019 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting …
CAFC Affirms Board Holding that Fishing Method Claim is Patent Ineligible
On April 24, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) upheld a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) decision in In re: Rudy affirming …
The Thryv Ruling Says the PTAB is Supreme—So Now Let’s Make it Fair
Yesterday, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), by and through his designees, the Patent Trial …
Efforts to Villainize Biotech, Pharma over COVID-19 are Political Theater and Opportunism
If the objective is to beat this virus as fast as possible it simply isn’t helpful to talk about the compulsory licensing of drugs that don’…
Registering your website with the Chinese government?
Doing business in China is exciting and potentially lucrative; however, there are “hidden” traps. Most of these hidden traps have been extensively discussed in the Western world – …
What happens when lifestyle drugs like Viagra and Cialis lose patent protections?
Each year, millions of men rely on pharmaceuticals like Viagra and Cialis for their erectile dysfunction (ED), but they may not be the only ones facing dysfunctionalities. …
The Myth of the 18-Month Delay in Publishing Patent Applications
Starting in November 2000, the USPTO started publishing patent applications 18 months after their earliest filing date. So the simple assumption is that you file a patent and 18 months …
Top Patent Law Firms for 2017
We compiled a list of the top patent firms that are ranked based on the total number of U.S. utility patents that issued in 2017 where the …
Reflections on Taking the Patent Bar Exam
If you are reading this article beyond the title, you are either preparing to take the USPTO’s patent bar exam or you are considering whether you …
Federal Circuit Affirms TTAB Refusal to Register ‘CHURRASCOS’
In a May 13, 2016 decision, the Federal Circuit affirmed a Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) decision upholding an Examiner’s denial of registration based on a finding …
Alternate Approaches to the Valuation of Intellectual Property
Techniques for valuing intellectual property continue to develop, especially as access to information becomes easier and more efficient. The practice of valuing intellectual property has only been …
Design Patent Infringement: How to decide if you should sue
First, look at the merits of the infringement claim. They may be stronger than you think, and you can thank a 2008 ruling for that. That year, the …
Top Patent Firms for 2016
A list of the top patent firms that are ranked based on the total number of U.S. utility patents that issued in 2016 where the patent firms …
Beat the Odds: How to Get Your Invention Licensed
Many inventors believe the way to get a company interested in their inventions is to write a letter – and then hope they receive an invitation to begin …
Does University Patent Licensing Pay Off?
Patent licensing or creating new companies is not a get rich quick path for schools despite the occasional blockbuster invention or Google spin-out. Indeed, enriching universities is …
These Are the 20 Hardest and Easiest Art Units
Art Unit 3689 has the lowest allowance rate at 7.7%. Art Unit 3659 has the highest at 98.3%. Oddly enough, these two art units are from the same technology center. It’…
Comic-Con Considerations: Cosplay, the Right of Publicity, and Copyright Concerns
For as much as Comic-Con is about comics, TV, and upcoming movies, it’s not hard to see that a large portion of its allure for fans …
Do Patents Truly Promote Innovation?
Invention, it has been shown, is driven primarily not by genius or happenstance but rather by markets and the expectation of the profit that can be gained …
10 Years Later – A Look at the Efficacy of the Pre-Appeal Brief Conference Program
For 61% of the non-defective requests, the panel decided that there was an actual issue for appeal, such that the applicant would either need to file an Appeal …
The Cost of Obtaining a Patent in the US
Estimating US patent costs is a difficult matter because so much depends on the technology involved, but answering "it depends" is not particularly insightful or helpful. What …
Protecting Ideas: Can Ideas Be Protected or Patented?
Unfortunately, despite what you may have heard from late night television, satellite radio commercials or snake oil salesmen, there is no effective way to protect an idea… …
Patent Searching 101: A Patent Search Tutorial
Inventors and entrepreneurs who are looking to cut costs frequently want to do their own patent search. This is a wise first move, but inventors need to …
The Top 5 Mistakes Inventors make with their Invention
Generally speaking the first step toward commercializing an invention and making money is typically to pursue the patent path. For those new to the industry it is …
Patent Claim Drafting 101: The Basics
When writing a claim it is important to describe how the various components are structured and how the various components interact and connect. First, include a claim …
Moving from Idea to Patent – When Do You Have an Invention?
In order to protect an idea it must mature into an invention first. This means that you need to be able to explain to others how to …
The Law of Recipes: Are Recipes Patentable?
In most cases the typical recipe for a "killer Margarita" or "the best barbeque sauce ever" will not be patentable, but the only way to know for …
Tricks & Tips to Describe an Invention in a Patent Application
One excellent way to make sure you are including an appropriately detailed description that treats a variety of variations and alternatives is to have many professional patent …
Patent Drawings and Invention Illustrations, What do you Need?
If you are going to file a patent application you must have drawings to include in the application, but patent drawings are not the only type of "…
Getting Your Invention to Market: Licensing vs. Manufacturing
Of course, whether you are going to pursue licensing or manufacturing, for the first lesson is to realize that there are no tricks to invention marketing. It …
Patent Drawings 101: The Way to Better Patent Applications
To properly accomplish the goal of having the best disclosure possible you should also not think in terms of a single patent drawing or illustration, but rather …
Good, Bad & Ugly: Truth About Provisional Patent Applications
Whether that provisional patent application can ever be useful moving forward is unknown and unknowable at the time it is filed, which allows for those who knowingly …
Provisional Patents: What are they and why do you need them?
The first thing to say is this: there is no such thing as a provisional patent. You can, however, file what is known as a provisional patent …
Utility Patent Applications – Content and Substance
In order to obtain a utility patent one must file what is referred to as a non-provisional application or a non-provisional utility application. It is called “non-provisional” …
Design Patents: The Under Utilized and Overlooked Patent
Typically an inventor wants to protect the function of the invention when at all possible. But what if you cannot get a utility patent because the underlying …
