Posts Tagged: "U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration"

Capitol Hill Roundup

This week is a very busy one on Capitol Hill where hearings on various subjects related to technology and innovation are concerned. The House of Representatives will hold hearings on Chinese threats in innovation supremacy as well as nuclear energy and the American Innovation Act of 2018. The Senate will host hearings focused on quantum information science, consumer data privacy and reducing health care costs through innovation. Both houses will hold hearings to look at activities going on at the nation’s space exploration agency, NASA.

Benefits of NASA Space Directive on Mars could be Limited by Uncertain Software, Biotech Patentability

President Donald Trump signed a new space policy directive for human expansion across the solar system, a directive which hearkens at least slightly back to Horace Greeley’s “Go West, young man.” Increased human expansion in space will produce innovations that can improve human life on Earth to the benefit of U.S. consumers, provided our nation’s struggling IP regime can be righted for the proper commercialization of such inventions.

Government and 3D Printing: A New Line of Innovation to Protect

For the last 20 years, manufacturers have used 3D printing to build prototypes, but it was only recently that this industrial technology entered the mainstream.  The 3D printing of products can enable faster time-to-market, save money, mitigate risk and allow manufacturers to customize a component to suit customer needs. 3D printing can produce individual, specifically tailored parts on demand. Boeing printed an entire plane cabin in 2013 and Ford can manufacture vehicle parts in four days that would have taken four months using traditional methods.

Other Barks for Wednesday, March 22nd, 2017

The highest federal court in the United States declines to hear an appeal from tech giants on applying common sense to patent validity challenge proceedings. A group of pharmaceutical giants duke it out in a patent battle over a topical ointment for treating acne. The capital’s district court hears arguments in a case about compulsory copyright licenses. Also, President Trump signs a bill authorizing billions in funding for the nation’s space agency.

Other Barks & Bites for Wednesday, March 1st, 2017

Another covered business method review is overturned by the Federal Circuit because the Patent Trial and Appeal Board instituted a CBM on a patent that was not a CBM patent. China leads the world not only in stealing digital images protected by copyright but also in terms of trademark applications filed. The Catholic Church starts to take action in protecting its own intellectual property. Also, Alphabet’s self-driving car subsidiary files a lawsuit including patent and trade secret claims against ride sharing giant Uber.