Posts Tagged: patents
US Inventor Backs SCOTUS Petition to Clarify Claim Construction Principles
Inventor advocacy group US Inventor has filed an amicus brief in support of a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court asking the justices to clarify “[w]…
Patent Filings Roundup: Fortress Gets Into the 5G SEP Game; Judge Gilstrap Stays Trial for Reexam After Board Denied Under Fintiv; Fintiv Case Transferred
All eyes this week were on the USPTO Director’s chair and the inauguration, and yesterday the USPTO posted a farewell blog and speech, confirming that Andrei …
Western District of Texas Gets an Upgrade: A Look at the New Waco Courtroom
Anyone who is familiar with the fortunes of Waco, Texas over the past few years will recognize the remarkable transformation of the city in most every respect. …
Inaugural NCEAI Innovation Discussion Underscores Data-Driven, Solution-Based Approach
Last week, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) hosted its first National Council for Expanding American Innovation (NCEAI) Innovation Chat virtually, featuring a discussion between …
Successful After Final Petitions Can Help Advance Prosecution (Part V)
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 and Part …
Innovation Alliance Urges Biden Administration to Support Patent Rights
On January 11, Brian Pomper, Executive Director of the Innovation Alliance, sent a letter to President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris urging support for strong patent rights and …
From Agent to Examiner and Back Again: Practical Lessons Learned from Inside the USPTO
As a Patent Agent, the work product coming out of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) seemed random to me. This article shares what I …
USPTO Report Puts Chinese Innovation Growth in Context
On January 13, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published a new report on the impact of patent and trademark filing trends in China. The report, …
Patent Filings Roundup: Board Says ‘Nein’ to German Company’s IPR; A PTAB Footnote to the Fortress/Intel Fight
Per the usual slow January, it was a light week at both the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) and in the district courts. At the PTAB, …
Drawing Software Patent Drafting Guidance in 2021 from an Unlikely Source: the Federal Circuit
Since the Supreme Court’s Alice decision in 2014, inventors have faced extra hurdles trying to protect their software-related inventions with patents. A chief obstacle has been satisfying …
PTAB Will Use Nautilus Approach to Indefiniteness for Post-Grant Proceedings
Last week, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued binding indefiniteness guidance in a memorandum from Director Andrei Iancu that addresses confusion about which indefiniteness …
Supreme Court Will Review Doctrine of Assignor Estoppel
On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court granted a petition for certiorari filed by Minerva Surgical, Inc. asking the Court to clarify questions around the doctrine of …
Alice in 2020: Slashing Software Patents and Searching for Functional Language at the Federal Circuit (Part II)
In Part I of this article, I explained that the CAFC invalidated almost every software patent on appeal for eligibility in 2020 and recapped the first 13 such cases …
Patent Filings Roundup: IP Edge End-of-Year Filing Spree, WSOU Ends Year as Top Single-Entity Filer; AC Competitors Go to War Over a Cool Million
Combining the holiday break, we see a steady 24 and 25 Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) petitions filed in the last two weeks, respectively, with 84 and 71 District Court …
Alice in 2020: Slashing Software Patents and Searching for Functional Language at the Federal Circuit (Part I)
Last year was an active one at the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) for software eligibility. It also was a brutal year …