Patent Docs
Sep 2, 9:40 PM PDT
By James DeGiulio -- Sepracor Settles with Wockhardt in Lunesta Patent Suit Sepracor has reached a consent agreement with Wockhardt, thus settling its infringement suit over the sleep drug Lunesta. In March 2009, Sepracor brought suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of New...
Susan Crawford
Sep 2, 6:20 PM PDT
Every day I try to do a couple of interviews about the Comcast/NBCU merger. Today’s crop included a talk with a guy who said that in America “there’s a reluctant acknowledgement that big companies are going to do whatever the hell they want to do and there’s really not...
The IPKat made his feelings known on the subject of an IP Tsar last month here and here . Since raising the subject he has received many interesting comments, both for and against, and he has been favourably impressed by the manner in which his readers have made...
EFF Press Releases
Sep 2, 1:29 PM PDT
San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and a coalition of public interest groups and law professors have asked a California appeals court to protect craigslist from a lawsuit that could spur websites to be less helpful in responding to complaints about user behavior. In Scott P. v...
It's a long time since a Dilbert cartoon featured on this weblog -- a year ago, in fact ("Not enough to make a Kat laugh", here ), when this member of the team needed some explanation regarding the humour of a triptych based on an intellectual property theme. Well, the Kat has just...
IP Watch
Sep 2, 6:36 AM PDT
The third attempt at concluding negotiations on a draft protocol text on international biodiversity access and benefit-sharing will take place in Montreal on 18-21 September, according to official sources. Delegates at the meeting will try to agree on the text, before the United...
Patent Prospector
Sep 1, 9:10 PM PDT
Raymond E. Stauffer , esquire, hankers to look dapper, in idiosyncratic fashion, preferring bow ties to the normal skinny bib known as a necktie. A man with taste such as Stauffer's may sojourn to a classy clothier such as Brooks Brothers . But in his shopping excursion, Stauffer was bemused to...
Last week, in "Stig-ment of the imagination?" , the IPKat reported on the dispute between the BBC, which holds the rights to the unbelievably popular Top Gear TV series, and publisher HarperCollins over the latter's right to publish a book that reveals the secret but much-discussed identity...
Guy Selby-Lowndes is the IPKat's friend -- and one of his oldest readers in both senses of the word. A greatly experienced patent attorney, he also possesses a curiosity and liveliness of intellect that this Kat very much respects. Guy has written to the IPKat as follows: "The daily tablets I...
Patently-O
Sep 1, 4:46 PM PDT
Dear Law Review Editors : Please send me a note ( dcrouch@patentlyo.com ) to let me know about patent law focused articles that you publish in your journal so that I can highlight them on Patently-O. Student Note Topics : Here are some suggestions for patent law focused law review...
IP Watch
Sep 1, 9:20 AM PDT
The powerful World Intellectual Property Organization Program and Budget Committee is meeting this week for three days of discussions on a new strategic plan, the status of its audit function in the aftermath of past financial mismanagement, the financing of new projects related to...
Patently-O
Sep 1, 8:26 AM PDT
I recently agreed to help raise funds to support efforts to fight breast cancer. The funds that we are raising go toward educational, treatment, and screening programs. As part of the effort, I will be running in the 2010 “Race for the Cure” — a...
Patently-O
Aug 31, 10:24 PM PDT
By Jason Rantanen Stauffer v. Brooks Brothers, Inc. v. United States (Fed. Cir. 2010) Raymond Stauffer brought an action against Brooks Brothers claiming that bow ties sold by the defendant were falsely marked with patents that expired in 1954 and 1955. Stauffer is a patent attorney who...
Patent Docs
Aug 31, 9:52 PM PDT
By James DeGiulio -- On June 4, in an effort to address the application backlog and its alleged negative impact on innovation, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a notice concerning an Enhanced Examination Timing Control Initiative (75 Fed. Reg. 31763). The initiative would...
Above: never mind microwaves -- they don't even make adverts like they used to ... Trade secrets have been a lively topic for IPKat readers recently. Neil's posting on "Term of Trade Secret Protection: the Dirty Little Secret" ( here ) has generated some good comments, while Christopher F...
IP Watch
Aug 31, 8:16 AM PDT
Barely a year after her appointment as the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Administrator for Policy and External Affairs, Arti Rai has resigned her position and will go back to a faculty position at Duke University Law School, according to a USPTO spokesperson. Rai joined...
Susan Crawford
Aug 31, 6:48 AM PDT
The three large decisions before the FCC this year are reclassification, the white spaces, and the Comcast/NBCU merger. They’re all important, and they all relate. Amy Schatz of the WSJ had a nice piece yesterday on the white spaces issue - a matter that has been hanging fire now for...
Patently-O
Aug 31, 1:29 AM PDT
Microsoft Corp. v. I4I Limited Partnership (on petition for writ of certiorari 2010) In 2009, an Eastern District of Texas jury awarded $200 million + interest to i4i after finding that Microsoft willfully infringed the Canadian company’s patent. Judge Davis subsequently added-on $40 million...
Patent Docs
Aug 30, 9:55 PM PDT
By Donald Zuhn -- On Thursday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued an Order in Eli Lilly & Co. v. Actavis Elizabeth LLC, continuing a temporary injunction that had been granted by the District Court for the District of New Jersey one week earlier. Lilly moved for the...
Patent Prospector
Aug 30, 6:20 PM PDT
Compact discs (CDs) became commercially viable by creating an international standard, insipidly called the "Orange Book." Philips was instrumental in developing the Orange Book standard, as well as holding patents covering a portion of the standard. CD maker...
EFF Press Releases
Aug 30, 12:27 PM PDT
Scary news from California's Contra Costa County — school officials there have reportedly decided to track some preschoolers with RFID chips , thanks to a federal grant supplying the funding. According to a story from the Associated Press, the students will wear a jersey at...
Patently-O
Aug 30, 11:24 AM PDT
By Dennis Crouch In a split decision, an en banc Federal Circuit has held that the non-statutory equitable doctrine of patent misuse should be narrowly applied. Here, the court held that an anticompetitive agreement between companies to suppress a given technology would not constitute...
IP Watch
Aug 29, 5:56 PM PDT
International public health in Geneva is no longer just the province of the World Health Organization. Dozens of intergovernmental and nongovernmental agencies, along with financing organisations and partnerships, have headquartered their operations in Geneva, making the...
IP Watch
Aug 30, 5:17 AM PDT
Sagging stock prices in the second quarter of 2010 attracted the interest of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the foundation added the Goldman Sachs Group and Monsanto to its portfolio, according to the Dow Jones Newswires. The foundation recently bought about...
While litigation is often described in military terms , it is a less frequent occurrence for skirmishes between military groups to be fought out in court. Here however is news of a set of thoroughly confusing manoeuvres between the Combined Armed Forces Federation UK (CAFF) and the...
Patent Docs
Aug 29, 8:31 PM PDT
September 1-2, 2010 - 7th Annual Pharmaceutical Law Summer School (IBC Legal) - London, UK September 7-9, 2010 - BioPatent Design (Pharma IQ) - Munich, Germany September 8, 2010 - Biotechnology/Chemical/Pharmaceutical (BCP) Customer...
Patently-O
Aug 29, 12:44 PM PDT
by Thomas G. Field, Jr., Professor, University of New Hampshire (UNH) School of Law (formerly Franklin Pierce Law Center) There is much ado about generalist and specialty law school rankings, but it is difficult to understand why they should make much difference in hiring new...
EFF Press Releases
Aug 28, 6:00 PM PDT
Hari Prasad, the Indian security researcher arrested for allegedly stealing an electronic voting machine, has been released on bail . Earlier this year, an anonymous source gave the machine to Prasad and a team of researchers, who discovered critical security flaws. Under questioning...
IPKat
Aug 28, 12:50 AM PDT
Once a patent has been granted by the European patent office, Article 99 EPC allows for a nine month period when anyone can oppose it. Oppositions are filed on only a small fraction of patents that are granted by the EPO. Most are granted unnoticed by everyone except the people...
Patent Docs
Aug 27, 9:54 PM PDT
C5 (UK) will be holding its 19th Forum on Biotech Patenting on October 6-7, 2010 in London, England. Regulators, biotech practitioners, and experienced in-house counsel will provide information on: • The latest strategies for adapting one's patent practice to the EPO rule changes; • The EPO...
Patently-O
Aug 27, 1:58 PM PDT
Interval Licensing LLC v. AOL, Apple, eBay, Facebook, Google, Netflix, Office Depot, OfficeMax, Staples, Yahoo!, and YouTube (W.D. Wash. 2010). Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen started Interval Research in 1992. During the 1990’s, the company filed for several user-interface related...
Patently-O
Aug 27, 5:37 AM PDT
If you are a law professor teaching a general course on intellectual property, you might consider a cheap text-book alternative: Franklin Pierce Professor Tom Field freely gives-away PDF versions of his 470 page book titled Fundamentals of Intellectual Property . Lewis & Clark...
Patent Docs
Aug 26, 9:26 PM PDT
By James DeGiulio -- Mirapex Case Ends, Mylan Found to Infringe Boehringer Patent On August 18, Boehringer's long-running case against Mylan over the drug Mirapex came to a close after Mylan was found to infringe Boehringer's patent and an injunction was issued...
EFF Press Releases
Aug 26, 4:08 PM PDT
Facebook is facing down another embarrassing episode of censorship this week after refusing to show ads submitted by the Just Say Now marijuana legalization campaign. The gag is an important reminder that social networks like Facebook — while useful, interesting, and pretty — are...
Video Game Law
Aug 26, 1:36 PM PDT
EA's latest Medal of Honor instalment is set for release in October 2010, but is already causing a stir. The reason? The single-player game involves US soldiers operating in Afghanistan, but the multi-player game allows players to play as the Taliban. Peter MacKay, Canada's Defence...
The IPKat is not a Siamese Kat and therefore rarely has the chance to peruse the Bangkok Post. It was however with great interest that he read a remarkable Opinion which sheds light on the social reality of life in a developing nation and the position occupied by the rule of law, social...
Against Monopoly
Aug 26, 7:41 AM PDT
The New York Times now carries a lot of stories that are of interest to anyone concerned about the high cost of intellectual property protection. The first story today is a debate over who is right AARP or the industry. AARP says the cost of branded drugs rose 8.3% in 2009 link here...
IP Watch
Aug 26, 6:06 AM PDT
Foreign content producers and broadcasters hope the soon-to-be-launched Africa Media Rights Watch will help convince the region’s regulators and consumers alike to increase respect for copyright. Related Articles: European Broadcasters Call For Easier Copyright Clearance For...
The IPKat has picked up scent of a story that IPReg (the UK's Intellectual Property Regulation Board, set up by the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys -- CIPA -- and the Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys to undertake the regulation of their respective professions) is meeting on this very day...
Patent Prospector
Aug 25, 6:17 PM PDT
From reading his newsletter, one gathers the decided impression that Greg Aharonian has the emotional stature of an infant. [I know I'll get comments from readers who will swear their infants are more mature than Greg. Point taken.] In his ranting newsletter, where screaming ALL CAPS and...
Against Monopoly
Aug 25, 3:06 PM PDT
Duff Wilson writing for the The New York Times link here , tells us about a deal between Roche, the Swiss drug giant, and a start-up, Aileron, which engages in research involving peptides that are "stapled" to another chemical and can be delivered right into the offending illness cells where they...
EFF Press Releases
Aug 25, 1:33 PM PDT
We're pleased to announce that EFF's Legal Director, Cindy Cohn , has won a
EFF Press Releases
Aug 25, 11:04 AM PDT
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is seeking to assist defendants in the Righthaven copyright troll lawsuits. Righthaven, founded in March of 2010, files hundreds of copyright infringement lawsuits on behalf of newspaper publishers against bloggers who make use of news...
Patently-O
Aug 25, 5:39 AM PDT
by Jeremy Kriegel of Marshall, Gerstein & Borun In an effort to promote repatriation of jobs, H.R. 5980 was introduced on July 29, 2010. The Bill proposes replacing the 18-month publication of U.S. patent applications in their entirety with a requirement that the U.S. Patent &...
If you downloaded the original version of the unofficial Simmons & Simmons English translation of the Opinion of the assembled Advocates General in Case 1/09 (on whether the proposed scheme for a European and European Union patent court was lawful: see earlier IPKat post here...
Patently-O
Aug 24, 2:29 PM PDT
As a continuation of the previous posts on patent attorney demographics, I looked at the status of registered US patent practitioners. As the chart above demonstrates, more recently registered practitioners are less likely to be registered as patent attorneys. It is...
Readers may remember this dispute as Sun Microsystems Inc v M-Tech Data Ltd and another (noted by the IPKat here ), but it has resurfaced today -- at a time when Court of Appeal judges should be out in the sun, not judging it -- as Oracle America Inc (formerly Sun Microsystems Inc) v...
Copyfight - The Politics of IP
Aug 24, 7:05 AM PDT
My father sent me a pointer to Robert Darnton's review in the NY Times titled "A Republic of Letters" . The review discusses the new book by Lewis Hyde (see also http://www.lewishyde.com/ ) called Common as Air: Revolution, Art, and Ownership . As you can guess from...
Patent Docs
Aug 23, 9:56 PM PDT
By Sherri Oslick -- About Court Report: Each week we will report briefly on recently filed biotech and pharma cases. Cephalon, Inc. et al. v. Apotex Corp. et al. 1:10-cv-22997; filed August 19, 2010 in the Southern District of Florida • Plaintiffs: Cephalon Inc.; Cephalon France • Defendants:...
Susan Crawford
Aug 23, 8:09 PM PDT
Today’s Times devotes substantial columnage to the future of television. “In The Living Room, Hooked on Pay TV” is the central article . Notice the language of addiction - hooked on Pay TV, can’t live without those cable shows. Desire fed by television. In economic terms, addiction is a substantial...
