Posts Tagged: "university of massachusetts"

CAFC Reverses and Vacates Decision for L’Oréal, Finding District Court Claim Construction was Improper

On June 13, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) reversed in part, vacated in part, and remanded a decision by the United States District Court for the District of Delaware relating to the University of Massachusetts’ (UMass’) suit against L’Oréal S.A. and its American subsidiary L’Oréal USA, Inc. (collectively, L’Oréal), alleging patent infringement of both U.S Patent No. 6,423,327 (the ‘327 patent) and U.S. Patent No. 6,645,513 (the ‘513 patent). The district court held that it lacked personal jurisdiction over L’Oréal S.A. and that the patents were invalid based on indefiniteness. UMass on appeal challenged both of the district court’s holdings, arguing that they were entitled to jurisdictional discovery against L’Oréal S.A. and that the claim construction performed by the district court was improper.

VRC01 and broadly neutralizing antibodies are increasing options for HIV/AIDS treatments

Proteins like VRC01 are referred to as broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs), a type of broad spectrum antibody which is effective in treating against infections of viruses with high mutation rates, such as HIV as well as influenza. It’s thought that VRC01 and other bNAbs useful in treating HIV-infected patients is capable of identifying the envelope spike of a single HIV viral agent to inhibit or neutralize its effects… Gene editing tools may also be part of the solution that rids HIV/AIDS from the human race for good. The discovery of clustered regularly-interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) and CRISPR-associated proteins (Cas) has given scientists hope that they’ll be able to efficiently edit genomes with a high degree of precision and flexibility.

AUTM Survey: University Licensing Strong Despite Economy

During fiscal year 2009, 596 new companies were formed as a result of university research, which is one more than the 595 formed in 2008 and 41 more than the 555 formed in 2007. The increase, while modest, does come despite a downturn in the U.S. and global economy, proving that even during a down economy good technology and innovation can and does create jobs. The AUTM survey also shows that invention disclosures continue to rise, patent applications are up, and during fiscal year 2009 there was a surprisingly high increase in foreign filings over fiscal year 2008.