Patents

The following comes from Joe Matal’s Director’s Forum Blog.  Matal is acting as Director of the PTO (“Performing the Functions and Duties”) pending Senate Confirmation of Andrei Iancu. = = = Patents for Humanity, the USPTO’s top honor for patent owners and licensees who use game-changing technology to meet humanitarian needs, ... Read More

James Yang, Yin Li and Hui ZhangIn China, judges handling patent litigations often experience difficulties in claim construction and infringement determination due to the lack of technical backgrounds. Although forensic appraisals were then widely adopted to help judges identify professional facts, some downsides were observed in the technical appraisal system. ... Read More

An exclusive right is more than a mere right of remuneration – it is the right to control the use and disposition of one’s property, and to deny others access to it. Without the fundamental attribute of exclusivity, we lurch toward a system of compulsory licensing, or a private right ... Read More

Miquel MontañáFor the first time, the Spanish Supreme Court made far-reaching observations on key issues of the assessment of inventive step and, in particular, on a) the reformulation of the “objective technical problem” as defined in the patent’s specification, b) the limits to the combination of prior art documents and ... Read More

Thomas LongSubstantial evidence supported a Patent Trial and Appeal Board decision finding a patent for an eyewear retention device unpatentable as obvious, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has held. A prior art device created by a fisherman and described in a newspaper article made use of ... Read More

Congressman Lamar Smith (R-TX), has sponsored a bill to amend Rule 11 — H.R. 720. The changes are made to remove the safe harbor provision and make sanctions mandatory. This bill has passed the House. A companion bill — S. 237 — has been introduced in the Senate with no ... Read More

Last week, Microsoft announced that the suite of IP protections it offers cloud customers will become available in China for the first time beginning on 1st October. In a blog post, corporate vice president and chief IP counsel Erich Andersen confirmed that users of the Microsoft Azure cloud platform in ... Read More

According to the press release issued by Nokia, licensing revenue from the agreement with LG will be reflected in the Finnish telecom’s earnings report for the third quarter of 2017 even though the expected revenues remain confidential at this time. The press release quotes Maria Varsellona, Nokia’s chief legal officer, ... Read More

Is it really possible for inventors to invent with the objective of acquiring patents? Dr. Kalyan Kankanala’s research shows that patents are the least of their concern when inventors invent. What then was the purpose of the program on patents for inventors led by Dr. Kalyan last Friday? One of ... Read More

Last week, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) issued a consultation paper on promoting local telecom equipment manufacturing in India and invited comments from readers.  I believe that this is a great opportunity for all stakeholders to provide their comments to the TRAI.  The paper may be downloaded ... Read More

In Ex Parte Timothy, the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) affirmed the Examiner’s rejection of personalized medicine treatment claims. This decision highlights the PTAB’s willingness to invalidate claims that it finds similar to the claims at issue in Mayo. It also underscores the need for Congressional action to ... Read More

By Kevin E. Noonan -- Not unexpectedly, on Friday, the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe (SRMT) filed a motion before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) to have inter partes review Nos. IPR2016-01127, IPR2016-01128, IPR2016-01129, IPR2016-01130, IPR2016-01131, and IPR2016-01132, instituted against U.S. Patent Nos. 8,685,930, 8,629,111, 8,642,556, 8,633,162, 8,648,048, and ... Read More

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Peter Menell and Daniel Yablon, Star Athletica’s Fissure in the Intellectual Property Functionality Landscape.  The article advises courts to “disregard the unsubstantiated dicta in Star Athletica” that potentially promotes the “protection for functional features of useful articles outside the auspices of the utility patent system.”  For practitioners, the professors’ concerns should likely be considered ... Read More

The respondent immediately takes issue with the argument that patents are not public rights, summarily citing MCM Portfolio LLC v. Hewlett-Packard Co., 812 F.3d 1284 (Fed. Cir. 2015), cert. denied, 137 S. Ct. 292, which held that that neither Article III nor the Seventh Amendment bars IPRs, a holding that, ... Read More

Earlier this year a group of senior IP figures, led by Bruce Berman, launched the Center for IP Understanding (CIPU), a non-profit organisation focused on increasing awareness of the impact of IP on society. Later this year CIPU, together with Chicago-Kent College of Law, will hold the first IP Awareness ... Read More

The dispute arose from a Mexican patent infringement suit between Stellar and two of Allied’s Mexican distributors. Allied manufactures the products accused of infringement in the United States, which are then sold in Mexico by Allied’s Mexican’s distributors. Allied sells the same product in the United States under a different ... Read More

Idemitsu Kosan Co. v. SFC Co., the Federal Circuit affirmed the Board’s decision to invalidate as obvious certain patent claims directed to a device that emits light when electric current is passed through a particular organic medium... During inter partes review, it is possible for claims to be invalidated for ... Read More

On Friday, Ocean Tomo announced the first public patent auction under its latest platform, dubbed Ocean Tomo Bid-Ask Market (OTBA). More than 1,000 rights owned by HP Inc will go under the hammer between now and 20th October; they're grouped into 45 separate lots across a range of mostly computing-related ... Read More

Synthon B.V. v. Yeda Research & Development Co. Ltd, District Court The Hague, 6 September 2017, Case Number ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2017:10315 Yeda Research & Development Co., Ltd is the proprietor of EP 2 405 794, which claims a dosing regimen for glatiramer acetate (Copaxone®) for the treatment of Multiple Sclerosis. In proceedings ... Read More

Allergan, Inc. v. Orifarm A/S, Preliminary Relief Judge District Court of The Hague, the Netherlands, 15 September 2017, Case number ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2017:10574 Allergan is the holder of the European patent EP 1 658 858 B2 entitled “Use of botulinum toxin for the treatment of recalcitrant voiding dysfunction”. The patent was filed ... Read More

“Inventors at the core of patent system, Indian Patent Office productivity, School bag patents, Panipuri patents, Artificial heart patents, Electroshoe – anti rape patents, BananaIP’s Unique Seminar on patents for Inventors, Qualcomm vs Apple, Ericsson vs Wiko, Honeywell sues Aprilaire, Malaysia issues Compulsory Licenses for hepatitis drug, Patent tip of ... Read More

By Andrew Williams -- We recently reported that Chief Judge Stark of the District of Delaware interpreted the second prong of the patent venue statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1400(b), in Bristol-Myers Squibb Company v. Mylan because the first prong was no longer applicable in view of the Supreme Court's TC ... Read More

September 26, 2017 - "USPTO on Restriction Practice, Terminal Disclaimers, and Patent Term Adjustment" (Intellectual Property Owners Association) - 2:00 to 3:00 pm (ET) September 26, 2017 - "Best Practices for Safeguarding University IP When Structuring Deals in China" (Technology Transfer Tactics) - 1:00 to 2:30 pm (Eastern) September 26, ... Read More

Helsinn Healthcare S.A. v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. (Fed. Cir. 2017) An invention that is “on sale” prior to the associated patent’s critical filing date is not patentable. 35 U.S.C. 102.  Although the AIA used the same “on sale” wordage as pre-AIA 102(b), many believe that it should interpreted differently.  The particular ... Read More

Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd., v. SFC Co. Ltd. (Fed. Cir. 2017). The decision here is important as one example of a single-reference obviousness decision upheld by the Federal Circuit on appeal.  Here, the prior-art is a published international patent application also owned by the patentee and with overlapping (but not ... Read More

Inasmuch as the new Director can change, or do whatever they want once in the job, and will be subject to political winds, I thought I’d just tell them what I want and why. Simple. Here’s my list. First, believe in your product and the team that produces the product. ... Read More

In arguing that inter partes review (IPR) violates the U.S. Constitution, the petitioner in Oil States Energy Services, LLC v. Greene’s Energy Group, LLC advances two theories. The first is that patents are private rights, not public rights, and therefore suits to invalidate patents must be tried before a jury ... Read More

Strafford will be offering a webcast on "Negotiating IP Rights in Industry Sponsored Research Agreements -- Structuring Ownership, Licensing, Assignment, Confidentiality, Publication and Use Provisions" on September 28, 2017 from 1:00 to 2:30 pm (EDT). Dr. Robert H. Underwood of McDermott Will & Emery and Matthew R. Wilmot of Stoel ... Read More

West LegalEdcenter will be offering a live webcast entitled "Patent Venue After TC Heartland: What We've Learned So Far" on September 27, 2017 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm (EDT). Anthony J. Fitzpatrick of Duane Morris LLP, Philip C. Swain of Foley Hoag LLP, and Gregory S. Bombard of Duane Morris ... Read More