Last week I was in Arlington, Virginia, teaching the PLI Patent Bar Review Course, so I was a bit out of touch with what was happening in the patent world as I tried to help a number of would-be patent attorneys and agents get through the PLI immersion course. Like clockwork, during this time out of the office the United…

What is going on with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)?  After many years of waging a war against anyone and everyone that they thought illegally copied music, capturing many innocent people up with their Gustapo-like actions, and fighting with Internet Service Providers at every turn to get private information about users, the RIAA seems to have become a…

The Motorcycle Safety Foundation announced that it has resolved its copyright infringement lawsuit against Dr. Edward Ray, on behalf of Oregon State University, and Stephen Garets, operators of the Team Oregon Motorcycle Safety Program. The Settlement Agreement was finalized by all parties on December 19, 2008.

I confess, it was me who fed Gene Quinn the erroneous info about Steve Kunin heading back the US PTO. I made an erroneous assumption when, in casual conversation with Steve at a Vail, Colorado CLE event, I asked Steve whether he was in touch with the Obama transition team and whether this might lead to his certain appointment as…

On Tuesday, January 13, 2009, I wrote an article Nominating Gary Griswold for PTO Director.  In this article it was incorrectly stated that Steve Kunin was leaving private practice and was returning to the USPTO.  While my source was correct with respect to Kunin heading up a Reexamination/Reissue division, it is the Oblon Spivak Reexamination/Reissue Practice Group that Kunin will…

The owners of the trademarks on the popular American Idol TV program, FremantleMedia North America, Inc., have filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division.  This lawsuit came to my attention as I was watching Bill O’Reilly’s show on FOX, and his legal panel was discussing the merits of the lawsuit…

Over the past several months I have been nominating individuals who I think would make a good choice for the next Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property, also known as the Director of the USPTO.  It is my belief that the patent crisis that faces us requires that President-elect Obama nominate someone who is not only familiar with innovation and…

EDITORIAL NOTE:EDITORIAL NOTE: This post was originally published on October 14, 2008, by the PLI Patent Practice Center Blog. It has since become unavailable, so it is been republished here on IPWatchdog.com. As the Presidential election continues I want to put forth the name of another person that I think is qualified to be the next Under Secretary of Commerce…

EDITORIAL NOTE: This post was originally published on October 6, 2008, by the PLI Patent Practice Center Blog. It has since become unavailable, so it is been republished here on IPWatchdog.com. As the Presidential election continues to heat up it is time for me to start compiling names of those who I think are qualified to be the next Under…

Today you can hardly do a search on any search engine on the topic patents or trademarks without stumbling across an ad from LegalZoom.com, or one of the other numerous companies that promise to prepare and file patent or trademark applications on your behalf.  On September 15, 2008, the United States Patent & Trademark Office issued new rules that should have…

Microsoft is trying to patent a metered pay-as-you-go computing experience, which would give Microsoft exclusive rights to giving away computers for free, or virtually for free, and then charging a user fee for every hour the computer is used. What makes this application scary is not just the fact that Microsoft filed it, but that Microsoft has such a dominant position in the market that this could realistically become the future standard.

I hope and dream of the day when we get leadership at the PTO that will try and solve problems and reach out to the Patent Bar and see us as a part of the solution instead of the problem.  But as I said in my post yesterday on 7 reform suggestions for Congress, I doubt any of these will be…

After being told that patent reform in 2008 was all but a done deal, once again nothing happened.  I am happy that patent reform died in 2008 because the reforms that were being proposed were largely bad ideas, and they would have done absolutely nothing to address the many real and substantial problems that are facing the US patent system…

On November 17, 2008, I found a press release on Business Wire issued by AutoClear LLC discussing what allegedly transpired in a patent infringement lawsuit filed by American Science & Engineering, Inc. (ASE) against AutoClear in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.  The trouble with this particular press release was that it was apparently completely false,…

Yesterday the Wall Street Journal reported that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) fired MediaSentry, the Recording company it used to help it gather evidence for mass lawsuits it filed against people it claimed were illegally uploading copyrighted music. It would seem that the RIAA is finally coming to its senses and realizing that the way forward is not…