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Other Barks & Bites for Friday, May 7: FTC Issues Report to Congress on Repair Restrictions, SCOTUS Calls for Solicitor General Brief in American Axle and USPTO Seeks to Hire Hundreds of Patent Examiners
This week in Other Barks & Bites: the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announces a hiring initiative to fill hundreds of patent examiner positions at its …
USPTO After Final Petition Statistics – Are Things as Bad as They Appear? (Part VI)
While researching the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) treatment of final Office actions for previous articles (Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, …
Fitch, Even, Tabin & Flannery is seeking a Litigation Associate
Fitch, Even, Tabin & Flannery is seeking an attorney with 4 to 7 years of experience who is interested in honing and expanding their skills and practice. This is a …
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Stop Tripping Over TRIPS
The petition by South Africa and India at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to waive most of the protections in the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (…
CAFC Affirms Decision Vacating Judgment and Injunction Due to Executive’s Misrepresentations
On May 5, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) affirmed the decision of the District Court for the Central District of California to …
Mainstream Media Defends Patents? BBC Interview Indicates IP Talking Points on COVID Crisis May Be Reaching a Broader Audience
I happened to be listening to NPR yesterday morning, and caught an interview on BBC Newshour between the BBC’s Razia Iqbal and a representative of the …
Tai Says United States Will Back India-South Africa Proposal to Waive IP Rights Under TRIPS
Bloomberg first reported today that U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said that the United States will back a proposal by India and South Africa last year …
Patent Filings Roundup: Litigation Explosion Fueled by IP Edge; Patent Plaintiff Seeking Defendants; Companies File Declaratory Judgment Against Landmark as Troll
The district courts saw an explosion of new patent filings last week (183, more than 100 over the weekly average to date), driven largely by dozens and dozens of …
Indian Vaccine Economics: IP Rights are Not the Real Villain in India’s COVID-19 Emergency
The horrific second wave of COVID-19 in India has compelled the government to introduce an expedited vaccination drive from May 1, 2021, where all citizens above the age of 18 (…
Lessons from Ice Cube’s Lawsuit Against Stock Trading App in Right of Publicity/Trademark Infringement Case
The multi-talented Ice Cube famously said “It was a good day” in his hit song of the same name. But the hip-hop icon and his team probably …
Looking Back at Soon-to-Be Chief Judge Moore’s Major CAFC Opinions
On April 21, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit announced that Judge Kimberly Moore would take over the duties of Chief Judge when current …
High Court is Poised to Un-Muddy the Section 101 Waters Nearly Seven Years After Alice
Could the United States Supreme Court once again weigh in on Section 101 subject-matter eligibility? With the Court having asked for the views of the Solicitor General yesterday, …
Peloton’s Online Exercise Class Patents: Past, Present and Future
Peloton Interactive, Inc. is a popular fitness company that offers high-end stationary bikes, treadmills, and online exercise classes. The demand for online exercise classes increased significantly during …
Can Process Confer Structure to Distinguish the Art after Biogen v. EMD Serono?
Courts have long held that "an old product made by a new process is not novel and cannot be patented." The validity of product claims have generally …
CAFC Affirms ITC Ruling for 10X Genomics, Finding Bio-Rad Infringed
On April 29, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) affirmed an International Trade Commission (ITC) decision in Bio-Rad Laboratories v. International Trade Commission & 10…
This Week in Washington IP: Advancing NSF Scientific Research, Addressing Equity in AI and Broadband, and Clean Energy R&D Legislation
This week in Washington IP news, the Senate remains largely quiet as it enters a scheduled state work period on the 2021 legislative schedule. However, the House of …
The Common Thread of Innovation Ecosystems: Securing Ownership to Guarantee Creation
Over the past several weeks, it has been our pleasure at IPWatchdog to be a media sponsor for the excellent programming on intellectual property and the innovation …
Other Barks & Bites for Friday, April 30: Brazil Senate Passes COVID-19 Patent Waiver Bill, Cornyn Mulls Expanding ITC’s Section 337 Authority; China Says It Leads World in 6G Patent Applications
This week in Other Barks & Bites: the full Senate Judiciary Committee approves the IDEA Act, moving it towards a Senate floor vote; China’s IP administration issues …
Pfizer Rejects Accusations it Infringed COVID-19 Vaccine Assay Technology
Pfizer and BioNTech have hit back at Allele Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals, Inc.’s October 2020 complaint accusing the COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers of infringing Allele’s U.S. patent …
International IP Index 2021: United States Remains Second in Patent Rankings, Global IP Framework Holds Strong Amid Pandemic
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC) released its ninth annual International IP Index yesterday, finding that the United States, Japan and Europe …
Federal Circuit Says Amgen’s Repatha® Patent Claims Require ‘Undue Experimentation’ to Practice
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) on Thursday upheld the District of Delaware’s grant of judgment as a matter of law (…
Federal Circuit Reiterates It Will Not Be Bound by USPTO Eligibility Guidance
Earlier today, in cxLoyalty, Inc. v. Maritz Holdings, Inc., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) affirmed-in-part, reversed-in-part and dismissed-in-part a decision of …
Microsoft Patent Reaches Beyond Death to Pseudo-Reincarnation
Reports surfaced last week that Microsoft was granted a patent in December for a way to allow people to have conversations with loved ones after they’re …
The Upshot of Google v. Oracle: An Absurd Ruling Will Lead to Absurd Results
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, or so states Newton’s third law of motion. It is safe to say that Newton never …
License to Copy: Your Software Code Isn’t Safe After Google v. Oracle
In characteristic form, the Supreme Court has once again managed to blow it in another intellectual property case. This time, the Justices blessed Google's copying of Oracle's …
Twist Emerges in Senate IP Subcommittee Leadership for 117th Congress
On Sunday, February 14, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Ranking Member of the Senate …
USPTO’s Drew Hirshfeld on Proposed Changes to Requirements for Patent Bar Registration: It ‘Just Makes Sense’
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or Office) earlier today published a Request for Comments in the Federal Register asking for public input into proposed …
IPO Top 300, 2020: Slight Decreases in Patent Grants Due to Budgets, Not COVID
Last month, the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) issued its 38th annual listing of the Top 300 organizations that have been granted U.S. patents. The 2020 list reflects …
Biden Announces Intent to Nominate Tiffany Cunningham to Federal Circuit
President Joe Biden today announced 11 judicial candidates – 10 for federal circuit and district court judge positions, including Tiffany Cunningham as nominee for the United States Court of Appeals …
Computer Programs are Different, Says SCOTUS in Landmark Ruling that Google’s Use of Oracle’s API Packages Was Fair
The U.S. Supreme Court this morning found Google’s use of Oracle’s Java application programming interface (“API packages”) a fair use as a matter of …
SCOTUS Dubs PTAB/APJ Structure a ‘Rare Bird’, Pushes for Workable Remedies in Arthrex Oral Arguments
The Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court today heard arguments in United States/ Smith & Nephew v. Arthrex, in which the Court will decide whether the administrative …
Massive Jury Verdict for VLSI Sets Stage for ‘Efficient Infringement’ Debate
On Tuesday, March 2, a jury verdict entered into the Western District of Texas awarded $2.175 billion in damages to VLSI Technologies for patent infringement committed by multinational tech …
Who Will it Be? IP Practitioners Name Their Picks for Biden CAFC Appointee Following Judge Wallach’s Retirement
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) Judge Evan J. Wallach announced earlier this week that he will retire from active service and assume …
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 …
Looking Forward: Predictions and Thoughts for 2019
Given that several industry insiders were willing to make their own predictions, I’ll go out on a limb and make my own predictions… First, I predict …
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 …
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 …
Three Inventions That Made My Summers Fun
As we enter the August heat, it’s worth remembering some of the patents that have made summers more bearable through the years, for kids and adults …
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 …
Protecting an Idea: Can Ideas Be Patented or Protected?
Many people ask: can ideas be patented? The short answer is no. Unfortunately, despite what you may have heard from late night television commercials, there is no …
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 …
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 …
