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The Administration’s Draft ROI Report: A Promising Roadmap for Accelerating Tech Transfer
After months of anticipation, the just released draft paper Return on Investment Initiative to Advance the President's Management Agenda: Unleashing American Innovation signals that the Administration is …
ITC Misapplied Res Judicata, Can Modify Penalty After Asserted Patent Claims Found Invalid
The Federal Circuit panel of Chief Judge Sharon Prost and Circuit Judges Jimmie Reyna and Kimberly Moore determined that the ITC erred in applying res judicata to …
Christmas Gifts for Patent Attorneys and Inventors
It is hard to believe, but Christmas is just around the corner — only two weeks away. For those looking for the perfect gifts for the nerd in …
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Why is SCOTUS Creating a Federal Common Law of Patents?
What makes SCOTUS’s assertions in patent law jurisprudence that there are these “exceptions” or additional “requirements” particularly annoying to many of us in the patent bar …
Capitol Hill Roundup
This week on Capitol Hill, the House of Representatives will host almost every hearing that will relate to technology and innovation, including three hearings originally scheduled for …
Supreme Court Hears Helsinn v. Teva: Does On-Sale Bar Capture Secret Sales
On the morning of Tuesday, December 4th, the U.S. Supreme Court held oral arguments in the case of Helsinn Healthcare S.A. v. Teva Pharmaceutical USA (…
FTC v. Qualcomm: Court Requires Licensing of Standard Essential Patents to Competitors
The Qualcomm decision is unique in that it appears to be the first decision to require a SEP holder to license its patented technology to its competitors, …
Why do you want a Patent?
Obtaining a patent can be the best business move you could ever make. On other hand, it may wind up costing you time, energy and a lot …
Nokia Inks Patent Licensing Agreement With OPPO, A Rising Star in China’s Smartphone Industry
Nokia Corporation announced it entered into a patent licensing agreement with Chinese mobile consumer electronics firm OPPO. Although terms of the deal weren’t disclosed by Nokia, …
Personal Jurisdiction is Not Established by Prior Lawsuit or Sending Infringement Notice Letters
The Federal Circuit recently affirmed the District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee’s dismissal of a declaratory judgment action based on a finding of lack …
CAFC Overturns Preliminary Injunction on Generic Suboxone Film Over Newman Dissent
The Federal Circuit issued a nonprecedential decision in Indivior Inc. v. Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, S.A., which vacated a preliminary injunction handed out by the District …
Ancora v HTC: Why You Should Draft Patents That Emphasize Technical Solutions
Last week, in Ancora Technologies v HTC America, the Federal Circuit reversed a lower court’s invalidity ruling under 35 USC §101 by concluding that Ancora’s claimed subject …
Supremes Deny101 Appeal Dealing with Electronic Data and Electromagnetic Signals
On Monday, December 3rd, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition for writ of certiorari in Carl M. Burnett v. Panasonic Corporation, declining to take up …
The Future is in Our Hands; No Room in the U.S. for Second Best
A reliable and predictable patent law is more necessary than ever, for technology is a much larger part of our industrial product than ever. The recent Supreme …
False Advertising, Free Speech, and the Fight Over Plant-based and Lab-Grown Meat Alternatives
Missouri made history in August 2018 when it became the first state to regulate the use of the word “meat” on product labels. The new legislation takes aim …
CAFC Vacates PTAB Decision to Uphold Conversant Wireless Patent Challenged by Google, LG
On Tuesday, November 20th, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a nonprecedential decision in Google LLC v. Conversant Wireless Licensing, which vacated a decision …
PTAB Institutes IPR, Finds Unified Patents is Sole Real Party in Interest
On Tuesday, November 27th, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) issued a redacted version of a decision to institute an inter partes review (IPR) proceeding petitioned …
Nasdaq ISE Files Motion to Disqualify Fish & Richardson at PTAB Over Prior Representation
Nasdaq ISE’s motion to disqualify Fish & Richardson was made pursuant to 37 CFR 11.109, which prevents a practitioner from representing a party adverse to a former client in …
Trademark Enforcement Campaign By Chicago Restaurant Aloha Poke Draws the Ire of Native Hawaiian Activists
In recent weeks, Chicago, IL-based Hawaiian cuisine chain Aloha Poke has become embroiled in a public relations nightmare over a trademark policing campaign which has created backlash …
Writing a Software Patent Application
Any good patent application that covers a software related invention will need to put forth three specific pieces of information. First, you need to describe the overall …
The Patent Bar Exam: Everything You Need to Know
The patent bar exam is a multiple-choice examination made up of 100 questions. You will be given 3 hours to complete the first 50 questions and another 3 hours to complete …
Can I hold on long enough until the madness stops?
If someone told me when starting my career in 1976 that I would discover a process that has been beyond the reach of professionals and experts for over 62 …
USPTO Substantially Revises PTAB Standard Operating Procedures
Earlier today the USPTO announced the substantial revision of Standard Operating Procedures (“SOPs”) for the paneling of matters before the PTAB (SOP1) and precedential and informative decisions (…
Exclusive with Roberta Romano-Götsch, Chief Operating Officer of Mobility and Mechatronics at EPO
I recently had the opportunity to go on the record with Roberta Romano-Götsch, the chief operating officer of Mobility and Mechatronics at the European Patent Office (…
USPTO Publishes Final Rule Adopting Phillips Standard at PTAB
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has published a final rule in the Federal Register changing the claim construction standard applied during inter partes review (…
Weak Chinese Patent Applications and China’s Burgeoning Patent System
Bloomberg recently published an article providing data analysis on Chinese patent applications to claim that, while China receives more patent applications than any country, “most are worthless.” …
Are all U.S. Patent Claims Invalid?
Nobel Biocare Srvcs. AG v. Instradent USA, Inc. makes one wonder whether all U.S. patents are invalid, or will eventually become invalid. This case demonstrates that …
Director Andrei Iancu lauds risk takers, calls patent troll narrative ‘Orwellian doublespeak’
Remarkably, in what I believe amounts to Orwellian “doublespeak," those who’ve been advancing the patent troll narrative argue that they do so because they are actually …
House Aviation Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), Flying Cars and Passenger Drones
The development of UAS vehicles for delivering packages or passengers could go a long way in alleviating issues of congestion occurring along the nation’s roadways. Aviation …
Patent Encumbrances Can Reduce Market Value up to 100 Percent
Patent broker Brad Close notes that encumbrances can have the effect of reducing a patent’s value by up to 100 percent, practically rendering a patent valueless on …
Brave New World: Blockchain, Mobility and the Intersection Between AI and Automotive
Roberta Romano-Götsch: "Imagine for example that in future you can have a truck where the driver does the difficult task of getting the truck outside the …
Seeds of demise were sown when SCOTUS removed exclusivity from the patent bargain
With the next Supreme Court term beginning in a few weeks we all need to come to terms with the fact that the U.S. has a …
USPTO Director Iancu tells AIPLA annual meeting: ‘It is a new day at the PTAB’
"The amendment process should allow the patent owner a meaningful process to draft narrower claims," Iancu said after pointing out that the statute specifically allows for patent …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Top Patent Firms for 2015
We compiled a list of the top patent firms, which are ranked based on the total number of U.S. utility patents that issued in 2015 where the …
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 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 …
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 …
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 …
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 "…
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 …
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 …
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, …
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 …
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” …
