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From Agent to Examiner and Back Again: Practical Lessons Learned from Inside the USPTO
As a Patent Agent, the work product coming out of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) seemed random to me. This article shares what I …
Other Barks & Bites for Friday, January 15: Copyright Office Issues Final Rule on Unmatched Musical Works Under MMA, $1 Billion Copyright Verdict Against Cox Communications Upheld, USPTO Publishes Report on China IP Filings
This week in Other Barks & Bites: the USPTO issues a report on the impacts of non-market forces encouraging larger numbers of bad-faith patent and trademark applications from …
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Complete Genomics Sues Illumina for Antitrust and Unfair Competition Violations
Complete Genomics, Inc., BGI Americas Corp., and MGI America’s Inc. (Complete Genomics) have filed suit against Illumina, Inc. alleging violation of federal antitrust statutes and California …
USPTO Report Puts Chinese Innovation Growth in Context
On January 13, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published a new report on the impact of patent and trademark filing trends in China. The report, …
Patent Filings Roundup: Board Says ‘Nein’ to German Company’s IPR; A PTAB Footnote to the Fortress/Intel Fight
Per the usual slow January, it was a light week at both the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) and in the district courts. At the PTAB, …
Minaj-Chapman Copyright Settlement is a Warning to Artists
Last week, documents were filed confirming that singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman accepted Onika Tanya Maraj’s (who performs rap under the stage name Nicki Minaj) Rule 68 Offer of …
IFI Claims Reports: Patent Activity Increases Despite Pandemic, IBM Again Dominates Granted U.S. Patents, Samsung Leads Global 250
On January 12, patent database provider IFI Claims published its Top 50 U.S. patent grant recipient list for 2020, as well as its Global 250 list of top owners of …
Drawing Software Patent Drafting Guidance in 2021 from an Unlikely Source: the Federal Circuit
Since the Supreme Court’s Alice decision in 2014, inventors have faced extra hurdles trying to protect their software-related inventions with patents. A chief obstacle has been satisfying …
Skidmore-Mead Can Solve the Patent Eligibility Dilemma
Judge Kimberly Moore, in a comprehensive and insightful opinion dissenting from the denial of the petition for rehearing en banc in Athena Diagnostics, Inc. v. Mayo Collaborative …
Ericsson Wins Anti-Interference Injunction Against Samsung in Texas FRAND Case
Judge Rodney Gilstrap of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas yesterday issued an order enjoining Samsung Electronics from taking any action to …
National Advertising Division Says Pre-Launch Investor Presentation Can Be Challenged Under Advertising Law
It has long been a fundamental tenet of advertising law that comments made to investors, and particularly those made before the commercial launch of a product or …
PTAB Will Use Nautilus Approach to Indefiniteness for Post-Grant Proceedings
Last week, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued binding indefiniteness guidance in a memorandum from Director Andrei Iancu that addresses confusion about which indefiniteness …
Supreme Court Will Review Doctrine of Assignor Estoppel
On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court granted a petition for certiorari filed by Minerva Surgical, Inc. asking the Court to clarify questions around the doctrine of …
This Week in Washington IP: Resetting America’s Research Priorities, Section 230 Under Biden and Exploring the FCC’s Actions on 5G Spectrum
This week in Washington IP news, committees in both the Senate and the House of Representatives are quiet after a week of national turmoil, and as we …
Federal Circuit Affirms TTAB Dismissal of QuikTrip’s Opposition to Convenience Store Mark
On January 8, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) affirmed a decision of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Trademark Trial and …
Alice in 2020: Slashing Software Patents and Searching for Functional Language at the Federal Circuit (Part II)
In Part I of this article, I explained that the CAFC invalidated almost every software patent on appeal for eligibility in 2020 and recapped the first 13 such cases …
CAFC Dismisses Appeal as Moot, Prost Dissents in Part
On January 7, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) dismissed ABS Global's appeal from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Patent …
USPTO Releases Benchmark Study on the Artificial Intelligence Patent Landscape
On October 27, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) released a report titled “Inventing AI: Tracing the diffusion of artificial intelligence with U.S. patents.” The …
As Biden Presidency Nears, Concerns Over Return to Obama-Era IP Politics Loom Large
As of the time of publication, the Associated Press had called 264 electoral college votes for Joe Biden in the 2020 Presidential Election. While many states are still counting …
Facing the Consequences: Biden’s Transition Team Should Concern the IP Community
It is difficult to talk about political issues in the current environment in the United States but looming for the patent and innovation community is a potential …
Tillis Targets Criminal Streaming Services with ‘Protecting Lawful Streaming Act’
On Thursday, December 10, U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, released text of bipartisan legislation titled the “Protecting Lawful …
Harrity & Harrity Is Seeking a Patent Preparation & Prosecution Attorney
Harrity & Harrity, LLP is looking for remote or local patent professional superstars to join our team! Full-time or reduced hours available (1200 hr …
District Court Finds Google Patent Ineligible Under Alice
On November 2, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, in Google LLC v. Sonos, Inc., issued an order granting Sonos’s motion to …
Federal Circuit Denies AAM Request to Stay Mandate Pending Supreme Court Review
On Friday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) issued a precedential order in American Axle & Manufacturing, Inc. v. Neapco Holdings denying American …
Squire Patton Boggs is seeking a Chemistry Patent Associate
The Northern California offices of Squire Patton Boggs is seeking a Patent Associate with a minimum of four years of experience to join our Intellectual Property and …
USPTO Steps Into Social Media Controversy
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) doesn’t often get much action on social media, but last week, five days before the U.S. Presidential …
Supreme Court Denies Patent Petitions on Arthrex, Eligibility
On November 16, the U.S. Supreme Court denied petitions for certiorari in two cases from the Federal Circuit: IYM Technologies LLC v. RPX Corporation and Advanced Micro …
Skidmore Seeks a Second Chance at SCOTUS in Led Zeppelin Copyright Case
On October 30, Michael Skidmore, Trustee for the Randy Craig Wolfe Trust, filed a petition for rehearing of the denial of its August 6 petition for writ of certiorari …
How the 2020 Congressional Election Results Will Impact IP
Three days out from Election Day, 2020, there are still many votes left to be counted, but as of the time of publication, it seems Joe Biden is …
What SCOTUS’ Decision to Scrutinize Social Security Act Appointments Clause Case Means for Arthrex
Last week, an order list issued by the U.S. Supreme Court indicated that the nation’s highest court had granted a pair of petitions for writ …
Intellectual Property Insurance Services Corporation (IPISC) Hiring IP Insurance Sales Account Executive
Intellectual Property Insurance Services Corporation (IPISC) is currently seeking to hire IP Insurance Sales Account Executive. In this role, you will be responsible for the prospecting of …
Bayh-Dole 40 Event: Protect the Future by Embracing the Past
The Bayh-Dole 40 Coalition and IPWatchdog today jointly presented a video webinar commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Bayh-Dole Act— officially the “University and Small Business Patent Procedures …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 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 "…
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 …
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 …
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 …
Invention to Patent 101 – Everything You Need to Know to Get Started
This page and website contain contain detailed information to help inventors on the road from invention to patent... Below are a sampling of inventor help links to …
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 …
