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An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Navigating California’s Complex Cannabis Industry
As of now, ten states have legalized recreational cannabis. Twenty-one other states allow medicinal use of cannabis, many of which are expected to legalize recreational cannabis in …
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Other Barks and Bites for Friday, April 19: Qualcomm Stock Soars Following Settlement with Apple, Supreme Court Cert Denials, and Trademark Suit Filings Up in Q1
This week in Other Barks & Bites: Qualcomm stock soars 20% after settling patent litigation with Apple; the U.S. Supreme Court denies certiorari in two separate patent cases …
How to Be an Effective Advocate When Responding To Examiners
You're a patent prosecutor. You've just received an office action. The examiner has rejected your claims. You think the examiner got it wrong. On the technical issues, …
Reactions Roll in On Congress’s Proposed 101 Framework: ‘The Right Approach’ or ‘A Swing and a Miss’?
Yesterday, members of congress announced in a press release a proposed framework to fix patent eligibility law in the United States.Reactions to the framework were mixed. …
Cheekd Follow-Up: Pirri Responds, Cheek Implores Nadler to Help Curb U.S. Patent Abuses
Earlier this week we reported on Lori Cheek, an independent inventor who is defending herself for the second time against accusations brought by Alfred Pirri, Jr. of …
A Story of Ethics and Optics: Former PTAB Judge Matt Clements Now Works for Apple
IPWatchdog recently learned that Apple, Inc. has hired former Administrative Patent Judge Matt Clements. Although Clements’ LinkedIn profile does not reflect the fact that he has left …
Change May Be Coming: Members of Congress Release Framework to Fix Patent Eligibility Law
In a promising indication that there is real momentum on The Hill to fix Section 101 law, several Senators and Representatives today proposed a framework for addressing 101-related …
Iancu v. Brunetti: Lawyers Weigh In On Fate of Scandalous Trademarks
In Iancu v. Brunetti (Case No. 18-302), the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is appealing to the Supreme Court from a U.S. Court of …
Invest Pic v. SAP America, Inc. Amicus Brief Takes on CAFC’s ‘Physical Realm’ Test
Among the seven amicus curiae briefs filed Monday with the U.S. Supreme Court in InvestPic, LLC, v. SAP America, Inc., Eagle Forum Education & Legal Defense Fund’…
Tam 2.0? SCOTUS Likely to Strike Down Bar on Immoral/Scandalous Marks in Iancu v. Brunetti
Following our visit to the Supreme Court for Monday’s entertaining oral argument in Iancu v. Brunetti, we can report that the Court seems likely to strike …
How U.S. Patent and Litigation Abuse Can Deter Small Inventors: The Story of Cheekd
In one more example of ways the U.S. patent system can be stacked against the small inventor, we have the story of Lori Cheek, who more …
Federal Circuit Vacates and Remands District Court’s Infringement and Willfulness Findings in Omega Patents v. CalAmp
On April 8, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a precedential decision in Omega Patents, LLC v. CalAmp Corp. that reversed and vacated a district …
This Week in D.C.: Iancu v. Brunetti, Think Tanks Discuss Data Privacy, Government Regulation of Social Media Content, Carbon Capture Innovations
This week on Capitol Hill, both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate are quiet for the next two weeks as the House …
Matching Patents to Products: Determining Which Patents Will Be Implemented in Real-World Commercial Products
An important part of any patent portfolio manager’s work is to understand which patents are likely to be implemented in real-world technology. We can think of …
Patent Eligibility of Medical Diagnostic Inventions: Where Are We Now, and Where Are We Headed?
In each of the recent Federal Circuit decisions on medical diagnostics inventions, Athena Diagnostics v. Mayo Collaborative Services, 2017-2508, (Fed. Cir. Feb. 6, 2019) (“Athena”) and Cleveland Clinic Found. …
Strategies for Preparing Infringement and Validity Opinions
A company must be strategic in any business decision it makes in order to ensure that it takes the necessary measures to avoid liability for its actions. …
The ‘Iancu Effect’ Won’t Matter if Not Supported by the Courts or Congress
The Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC) of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce issued its annual International IP Index ranking the intellectual property environments in 50 of the …
U.S. Patent System Jumps to Tie for Second Place in International IP Index
On February 7, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC) released the latest version of its International IP Index assessing the intellectual property …
Supreme Court decides Helsinn v. Teva, Secret Sale Qualifies as Prior Art Under the AIA
n a relatively short, unanimous decision authored by Justice Thomas, the Court begins by explaining that twenty-years ago in Pfaff v. Wells Electronics, Inc., 525 U.S. 55, 67 (1998) the …
IBM: Patent Troll Problem is ‘Just Noise’ Post-America Invents Act
This marks Part III of my four-part interview with IBM discussing the state of innovation and the U.S. patent system from the standpoint of a company …
Canada Patent Law Changes Are Bad News for Patent Owners
The effects of changes made to Canada’s patent law at the end of 2018 won’t be fully clear for some time, but Canadian patent owners and …
Examining the Truvada #BreakThePatent Debate: Gilead Responds
In July 2012, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) first approved Truvada, an acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) treatment manufactured by Gilead Sciences as a daily pre-exposure …
IBM Calls for an End to the ‘Legal Fiction’ of Current 101 Law
This marks the final installment in my four-part interview with IBM’s Vice President and Assistant General Counsel Mark Ringes and Chief Patent Counsel Manny Schecter. I …
Merck and Pfizer Downgrades on Patent Cliff Concerns Signal Importance of Patents to Pharma
Last month, business news outlets were reporting that stock prices for pharmaceutical firms Pfizer and Merck took a tumble after financial analysts downgraded the performance of both …
Motivation to Combine Unnecessary Under Section 103 if Secondary Reference Does Not Supply Element or Teaching
On January 10, the Federal Circuit issued an opinion affirming a decision of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) invalidating several claims of U.S. Patent No. 6,597,812 (…
Google Tries Again at Supreme Court in Copyright Fight With Oracle
Following a Federal Circuit ruling last March in which Google lost the latest in a nine-year battle with Oracle over Google’s unauthorized use of nine lines …
Standard Essential Patents: The Myths and Realities of Standard Implementation
Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) are patents that are unavoidable for the implementation of a standardized technology. They represent core, pioneering innovation that entire industries will build upon. …
IBM: Software Patent Exceptions Make No Sense in a World Where “Software is Ubiquitous”
In Part I of my recent interview with IBM, I spoke with Mark Ringes, IBM Vice President and Assistant General Counsel, and Manny Schecter, Chief Patent Counsel, …
Patent Masters’ Warning: U.S. Patents Are Weak, Innovation Is Going Overseas
IPWatchdog’s most recent Patent Masters™ Symposium, held Monday and Tuesday March 25-26 in Washington, D.C., examined the state of the U.S. patent system and …
America’s Patent System Favors the Few and Inhibits Innovation—But Change Could Be Coming
There is little doubt that the way intellectual property is viewed and protected has transformed over the last 12 years, at least in the eyes of those who …
Congressman Steve Stivers on the STRONGER Patents ACT, USPTO Reforms, and the State of U.S. Innovation
Representative Steve Stivers (R-OH) and Representative Bill Foster (D-IL) introduced the Support Technology & Research for Our Nation’s Growth and Economic Resilience (STRONGER) Patents Act, which would …
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. …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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… …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 "…
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 …
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 …
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 …
When is an Invention Obvious?
That being said, the possibility that a utility patent could be obtained cannot be definitively ruled out even if an invention seems quite likely to be obvious, …
The Benefits of a Provisional Patent Application
Like any other patent application, a provisional patent application is effective to stop the clock relative to so-called statutory bars and immediately upon filing 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” …
