It is undeniable that the Director Kappos has revitalized the Patent Office, but does the fact that the Patent Office is now well run mean that President Obama has earned 4 more years?

I really didn’t have any preconceived notions about what I would experience at the AIPLA.  I know what the organization is, I know what they do, and over the years I have come to know Todd Dickinson, bumping into him at virtually every major industry event I attend.  While I don’t want to ruin the story by jumping to the conclusion, I can say I was thoroughly impressed by what I saw.  The shear magnitude of the work that is done by the AIPLA staff and the many dedicated attorney volunteers is staggering.

One year after its launch, WIPO Re:Search has doubled its membership and resulted in ten research collaborations or agreements. WIPO Re:Search is a consortium where public and private sector organizations share valuable intellectual property (IP) and expertise with the global health research community to promote development of new drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics to treat neglected tropical diseases, malaria, and tuberculosis It is administered by WIPO, in partnership with BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH), a non-governmental organization based in San Francisco, California.

You might suspect that a patent infringement lawsuit between two Delaware LLCs would be litigated in Delaware, which would seem logical. If you made such an assumption you would be incorrect. VideoShare filed this lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. VideoShare alleges that YouTube has used and continues to use VideoShare’s patented technology in products and services that it makes, uses, imports, sells, and offers to sell. VideoShare seeks damages for patent infringement and an injunction preventing YouTube from activities that infringe the technology claimed by U.S. Patent No. 7,987,492. VideoShare has demanded a jury trial.

Ongoing efforts to support student entrepreneurship and/or invention on campus included a variety of programs: 84% of schools have entrepreneurship classes, bootcamps or other similar programs; 72% have business plan competitions; 50% have incubators for student-owned companies; and 41% offer student entrepreneurship funding. “By supporting student innovation and entrepreneurship, AUTM hopes to see commercialization of student inventions grow just as we have seen growth in the commercialization of faculty inventions,” says AUTM Vice President for Membership Phyl Speser.

Translating patents isn’t like translating press releases or whitepapers. These materials can be reworded, adjusted, modified, and reformatted to accommodate linguistic nuances. Patents, however, require very specialized and precise technical and legal language. In addition, every patent’s style, structure, and formatting must adhere to the particular rules of the patent office where it is being filed. Patent translation demands a level of expertise and experience that is beyond the ability of many translation providers.

Kappos on final rules to implement the AIA: “We put together a good set of rules, but they are by no means a perfect set of rules.” Kappos explained that typically in Washington administrative rules are written and may be changed some time in the future, but not very quickly. That was not the USPTO approach. “Our approach was different,” he explained. The USPTO approach is one of continuing improvement. “We are already talking about convening the state holder community again after a few months when there is data to discuss.” The goal is to get feedback and make any necessary changes to continually improve the rules.

A new face lifting technique that claims to restore the volume loss in the face that is caused by aging has received a U.S. patent – U.S. Patent No. 8,240,314, which issued on August 14, 2012 after initially being filed on April 6, 2010. The ArqueDerma Artistic Restoration Lift technique was invented by Leslie Fletcher of the InjectAbility Institute. The process is unique because it attacks volume loss in a different way compared with conventional techniques. The Fletcher process is desirable because of its long lasting, natural effects and because it can be administered by nurses and other medical professionals without the assistance of physicians.

“I am honored to have been elected President of an outstanding organization that plays a pivotal role in the global IP landscape,” Mr. Lewis said. “The coming year promises to be one of continuing change as the evolving global economy and ongoing advances in technology raise new challenges for the IP industry. I am excited to have the opportunity to work with AIPLA and its membership to address these issues and help to ensure that our intellectual property system remains strong and serves the best interests of its participants.”

Judge Richard Linn: “It is a pleasure for me to have the opportunity to honor my colleague and my dear friend, Judge Pauline Newman. To say that Judge Newman is a woman of accomplishment is a serious understatement. There is no glass ceiling she hasn’t broken. When I asked her what she thought about Justice Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court, she said with a twinkle in her eye, “That’s a nice start.” She has accomplished more than most men could ever hope to accomplish, and she did so for the most part at a time when our country and the institutions that operate here were, shall we say, not quite as progressive as they are today.”

The technology that involves cooling fact cells to reduce the amount of body fat is the center of a new trademark complaint. Zeltiq Aesthetics, Inc has filed a claim against Dr. Marco Hallerbach, MD, and Dr. Hallerbach & Associates, Inc. claiming that they are not only unlawfully using a procedure they own, but that in so doing they are infringing various trademarks owned by the company. The complaint was filed in the United States Federal District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Tampa Division on October 9, 2012. Zeltiq also filed a Motion for Preliminary Injunction simultaneous with the filing of the complaint, which requests an injunction to stop Dr. Hallerbach’s advertising and to prevent him from using any of Zeltiq’s trademarked products.

Something a bit out of the ordinary occurred earlier this month in the ITC investigation Certain Devices for Mobile Data Communication, 337-TA-809. There, Unwired Planet had accused Apple and Research-In-Motion of infringing four patents related to data transmission with cellular phones. A trial before the ITC’s Administrative Law Judge Gildea was scheduled to begin October 15, but shortly before that date, Unwired withdrew its Complaint and filed a motion with the Judge Gildea to terminate the investigation. Unwired’s problem was that the Judge had previously construed the asserted claims to require that the mobile devices do not contain “a computer module,” thereby precluding a finding of infringement by the accused devices that do contain module computers. Unwired, however, has not entirely given up on its infringement allegations against Apple and RIM – rather, Unwired continues to pursue those claims in a parallel infringement action in Delaware.

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) today announced the start of two new regional pro bono patent programs in California and the District of Columbia—the result of the USPTO’s cooperative efforts with the California Lawyers for the Arts and the Federal Circuit Bar Association (FCBA).

The two companies agreed to settlements with the FTC requiring them to stop making the allegedly deceptive claim that their Dutch Boy Refresh and Pure Performance interior paints, respectively, contain “zero” volatile organic compounds. According to the agency, while this may be true for the uncolored “base” paints, it is not true for tinted paint, which typically has much higher levels of the compounds, and which consumers usually buy.

The 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Intellectual Property Law Association is underway at the Marriott Wardman Park hotel in Washington, DC. Judge James Smith, Chief Judge of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board at the USPTO gave the luncheon address, discussing the current state of the PTAB and what to expect moving forward.