In AIA post-grant proceedings -- specifically, Post-Grant Review ("PGR"), Inter Partes Review ("IPR"), and Covered Business Method ("CBM") review -- the patentee has the right to seek to amend the claims rather than fight...more
On Friday, October 26, 2018, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Return Mail, Inc. v. U.S. Postal Service, in order to answer the question whether the government can bring post-grant review proceedings under the...more
Under a new PTO administrative rule published today, October 11, 2018, the PTAB will apply the same claim construction standards in IPRs, PGRs, and CBMs filed on November 13, 2018 or later as would apply in litigation. 83...more
En Banc Federal Circuit Finds § 145 Appellants Generally Will Not Be Liable for Patent Office's Attorneys' Fee -
The Federal Circuit handed down its en banc decision on Friday regarding the question of whether under 35...more
Intelligent Machines - Engines of Intellectual Property Creation? -
Recently, artificial intelligence (AI) has become an increasing part of our daily lives. Many of us utilize virtual assistants such as Apple’s Siri and...more
On April 17th, the American Bar Association provided a formal opinion regarding the requirement that attorneys disclose errors to clients. Its opinion was based on Rule 1.4 of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, which...more
In reversing an appellate court decision that had caused concerns throughout the patent world, the Texas Supreme Court recognized that communications between patent agents and clients could be covered by the attorney-client...more
Earlier on November 7, 2017, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Patent Trial and Appeal Board ("PTAB") published its Final Rule establishing the attorney-client privilege for application in PTAB proceedings. Before the...more
The DTSA After One Year: Has the Federal Trade Secrets Law Met Expectations? -
On May 11, 2017, the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) – the law that created a Federal cause of action for trade secret misappropriation –...more
9/18/2017
/ Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) ,
Forum Selection ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Marijuana ,
Misappropriation ,
Patents ,
Principal Place of Business ,
TC Heartland LLC v Kraft Foods ,
Trade Secrets ,
Venue ,
Water Splash v Menon
On July 17, 2017, the United States Trade Representative released the summary of its objectives for NAFTA renegotiation, including its objectives for the intellectual property and competition provisions of the agreement. As...more
Patent applicants dissatisfied with final outcome of patent prosecution proceedings have long had two options for court review of a Patent and Trademark Appeal Board decision: an appeal to the Federal Circuit under 35 U.S.C....more
In 2011, the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (“AIA”) established new post-issuance procedures for challenging the validity of a granted patent before the Patent Trials and Appeal Board (“PTAB” or “Board”). Inter partes...more
3/22/2017
/ America Invents Act ,
Covered Business Method Patents ,
Covered Business Method Proceedings ,
Estoppel ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
Jurisdiction ,
Patent Agent Privilege ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Post-Grant Review ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO
Seeking to end years of little clarity on two key ethical issues for practitioners, the Patent Office has proposed two new rules of practice. The first rule would allow parties to invoke privilege in inter partes proceedings...more
Supplemental Examination: Potential Benefits vs. Guaranteed Risks -
The America Invents Act of 2011 introduced supplemental examination of patents as a post-grant process intended to limit expensive and unpredictable...more
9/16/2016
/ 3D Printing ,
America Invents Act ,
Compulsory Licenses ,
Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) ,
Digital Media ,
DMCA ,
EU ,
Indirect Infringement ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Music Streaming ,
Patents ,
Popular ,
Royalties ,
Startups ,
Supplemental Examination ,
Trade Secrets ,
Trademarks ,
UTSA ,
Venture Capital ,
Venture Funding
Patentable Subject Matter after Alice: Best Practices for Responding to 35 U.S.C. § 101 Rejections -
It has been over 20 months since the Supreme Court handed down the landmark decision in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank Int’l,...more
3/3/2016
/ AFCP ,
America Invents Act ,
Broadest Reasonable Interpretation Standard ,
CLS Bank v Alice Corp ,
Covered Business Method Patents ,
Cuozzo Speed Technologies v Lee ,
Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
Patent Prosecution Highway ,
Patent-Eligible Subject Matter ,
Patents ,
Section 101 ,
Trade Secrets ,
USPTO Pilot Program
In a 7-2 decision authored by Justice Breyer, the U.S. Supreme Court held yesterday that an “appellate court must apply a ‘clear error,’ not de novo, standard of review” to the evidentiary underpinnings of a district court’s...more
In This Issue:
- Prior Art Redefined Under the AIA
- PTAB Holds a Firm Line on Additional Discovery
- The Art of Prior Art Searching
- Anticipating a Federal Trade Secret Law
- Trademark...more
11/26/2014
/ Additional Discovery ,
America Invents Act ,
Covered Business Method Proceedings ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patentability Search ,
Patents ,
Prior Art ,
SCOTUS ,
Trade Secrets ,
USPTO
In This Issue:
Comments on New AIA Rules; Implementing the New Micro Entity Status at the U.S. Patent Office; Obama Administration Focuses on Chinese Trade Secret Misappropriation; and Tiffany & Co. v. Costco Wholesale...more
5/13/2013
/ America Invents Act ,
China ,
Costco ,
Fees ,
First-to-File ,
Generic ,
Inventors ,
Micro Entity Status ,
Misappropriation ,
Patent Reform ,
Patents ,
Tiffany and Company ,
Trade Secrets ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO