Posts Tagged: "patent"

In the patent applications filed by this company, we found an interesting trio of printing technologies, including one filing which would protect an improved system for printing and binding booklets. Medical innovations, including an endoscopic tool which can be selectively made transparent and visible depending on endoscopic operation needs, are discussed below. We also noted an innovation for reducing erroneous operations in an electronic device with multiple touchscreen panels. There have been many recent additions to Canon’s already globally renowned patent portfolio that we profile today. We discuss a few patents issued to protect improvements to robotics technologies for manufacturing facilities. A couple of patents show Canon’s interest in improving nanofabrication techniques for creating semiconductors. We also explore inventions related to printing copy-forgery-inhibited patterns and high precision scanning technologies.

In a concurring opinion, Judge O’Malley, who was joined by Judge Hughes, wrote that she felt constrained by the Federal Circuit’s precedent in In re Seagate and Bard Peripheral Vascular v. W.L. Gore, but that recent Supreme Court decisions call into question the continued viability of that precedent. As such, Judges O’Malley and Hughes have urged the Federal Circuit to reconsider en banc the standard for awarding enhanced damages under 35 U.S.C. 284. With willful damages back on the table future patent reform is in question.

According to a myriad of patent applications filed at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Nikon is serious about expanding its intellectual property holdings in the area of lithography, especially immersion lithography, for the manufacture of semiconductors and other electronics. An X-ray device which is less affected by thermal expansion and a digital bulletin board for an online electronic album service are also discussed in recently filed Nikon patent applications. Nikon’s patent portfolio isn’t the most extensive one we feature on IPWatchdog, but it is still quite valuable. A number of immersion lithography innovations are featured in these patents and we discuss a couple of technologies designed to improve the control of fluids or vapors in use by these systems. Digital cameras and their electronic components were the feature of a smorgasbord of other patents that we came across. A couple of these protect techniques designed to increase the ease that image file data may be shared and edited by other cameras or external devices.

The Raze 4G/LTE patent portfolio, which includes patents having priority filing dates all the way back to April 2001, is currently for sale and could well fetch a handsome sum even given downward pressure in the market because these standard essential patents cover carrier grade technologies… This 4G/LTE patent portfolio includes 18 issued U.S. patents and another 4 pending U.S. patent applications. Broadly speaking, these patents are applicable to several technology areas with the next generation wireless and wireline technologies, particularly wide-area networks, narrow-area networks and cellular traffic to network offloading. The patents have no encumbrances, have never been licensed and have all commonly owned by Raze Technologies since the development of the underlying innovations.

J&J is pretty active in terms of patenting, and our recent survey of patent applications filed with the USPTO showed us that the company is looking to usher in the next age of contact lenses. In a time when many people are talking about Google Glass and other wearable technologies, we were intrigued to find a large number of patent applications filed by J&J to protect methods of incorporating semiconductor components into contact lenses for digitizing vision care and correction. A surgical implant for hernia repair and cosmetic compositions which cause less skin irritation are also discussed below… Even more contact lens innovation is reflected in these recently issued patents, including contact lenses for stopping myopia progression or for providing more stability when worn on the eye. Anti-tumor topical compositions and disposable assay devices for the simpler completion of biochemical tests have also recently entered the intellectual property portfolio of this firm.

The greatest long-term threat to the U.S. patent system does not come from its professional opponents – those large businesses and their political allies who stand to profit from enfeebled patent rights. A deeper harm is caused by unscrupulous patent trolls who use extortionist “demand letters” to victimize small businesses. Yet even as damage caused by demand letters spreads, most legitimate patent licensors whose businesses depend upon continued legislative and public trust stand idly by, doing little or nothing to address it. Well-insulated within the patent industry’s cozy professional bubble, we are, in effect, fiddling like a modern-day Nero while innovation’s Rome burns.

Your goal in patenting an invention is to make money by turning it into a real product. It won’t do you any good to file a provisional application for something that isn’t in a viable commercial market. If you’re considering filing a provisional, it means that you’re ready to talk to some manufacturers, begin to raise additional capital, and essentially start telling strangers about your idea.

Michelle Lee: ”I’ve spent my entire career engaged in innovation. I grew up a tinkerer, always looking to learn how things worked and how things could be improved. That passion led me to become an engineer, which then later led me to become an intellectual property attorney and advisor to high-tech companies. I’ve prosecuted patents; asserted patents; defended against infringement; and licensed, bought, and sold patents, sometimes for very large sums of money. So I share your conviction, gained through years of firsthand experience, that IP has tremendous value and is a driver of innovation.”

Caterpillar holds a respectable patent portfolio and has some strong intellectual property holdings in the field of industrial equipment. In 2013, the company earned 332 patents, an increase of 4.1 percent over the number of patents earned by Caterpillar in 2012 according to the Intellectual Property Owners Association. 2014 may be an even brighter year for corporate innovation at Caterpillar, as the company has received more than 60 patents within the past few weeks alone… Innovation is strong at Caterpillar and seemingly increasing in scope over the past few months. Some patent applications which we’ve discussed below include technologies for removing environmental pollutants, including nitrogen oxides, from machinery exhaust gas. Another patent application discusses a drive assist system for starting a heavy vehicle while parked on a hill. Many improvements to Caterpillar’s hardware, including an enhanced metallurgy process for casting metal parts, are also featured.

P&G is a company well-known for its extensive lineup of personal care products, and many of its brands are found on the shelves of retail stores and pharmacies all over the world. The company has achieved varying levels of success since it was established in 1837. Some media commentators have speculated that reduced levels of recent innovation at Procter & Gamble have hurt the company, but a newly announced corporate refocus on core brands could help increase its development of intellectual property. Many recent Procter & Gamble innovations can be found on the company’s official website and involve major company brands such as Crest, Olay and Gillette.

How many patent applications has your company filed today? If you are a typical new economy small tech company with software and internet centric technology or products, the number of patent applications your company filed today is probably zero. Of course filing and prosecuting patent applications is not cheap and that’s part of the explanation. However it is worth noting that most of the successful companies with software-heavy products, including those in the list above, have been filing patent applications from their very early days.

Recently, a team of scientists working at Ohio State University created the world’s solar battery, which includes a solar cell and a battery within a singly hybrid device. These batteries, which could achieve a length of charge comparable to other rechargeable batteries, achieves a cost reduction in utilizing solar energy of about 25 percent. It also reduces the need for any process of transmitting electricity from a solar cell to a battery, in which up to 20 percent of electrons are successfully transmitted to the battery.

In viewing Fujitsu’s recently filed patent applications, we saw a multitude of inventions in the field of information processing, whether for the analysis of computing processes or virtualization of computing resources on physical servers. A couple of biometrics innovations are discussed, including a system of electrodes meant to detect and prevent a vehicle driver from becoming drowsy. Methods for enhanced online classroom discussions are also explored. Fujitsu enjoys a very robust patent portfolio, and much of the company’s recent additions to that portfolio involve semiconductor devices. Many of the inventions which have been recently protected for Fujitsu are design to accommodate the further miniaturization of semiconductors for electronic applications. Technologies for converting voice data into useful textual objects on a computing device, as well as another biometrics innovation for better methods of authenticating a person, are also featured below.

I will be attending meetings in Morristown, NJ, on Tuesday, October 21, 2014. One of my sponsors, Innography, will be sponsoring the free happy hour event… John White and I will be in San Francisco teaching the PLI patent bar review course at the end of October 2014. This will be our last live course of the year, with our next live course being in the DC/VA area the first full week of 2015. Of course, home study courses are always available.