Patent Docs
Mar 12, 9:40 PM PST
American Conference Institute (ACI) will be holding its Hatch-Waxman Boot Camp conference on May 24-25, 2010 in San Diego, CA. ACI faculty will help attendees: • Understand the interplay of the PTO and FDA in the patenting of drugs and biologics; • Learn about the...
EFF Press Releases
Mar 12, 2:24 PM PST
The Fox News Channel boasts that it takes a different approach to news coverage than, say, CBS , NBC , or NPR. But it appears Fox takes the same approach as its competitors when it comes to fair uses of its news coverage in political advertisements: to try to shut them down using...
Patently-O
Mar 12, 4:41 PM PST
The UK Patent Office has released a commissioned study examining the "economic impact of delays in processing patents." The report (prepared by the consulting company London Economics) suggests that the delays (1) reduce the incentive to innovate; (2) increase the likelihood of filing...
Patently-O
Mar 12, 9:01 AM PST
President Obama recently announced KATHLEEN O'MALLEY as his nominee for the open position on the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC). Next Opening: Chief Judge PAUL R. MICHEL has announced that he is retiring May 31, 2010. Judges PAULINE NEWMAN, ALAN...
IP Watch
Mar 12, 5:47 AM PST
Patients with HIV/AIDS today protested in New Delhi against negotiations for a European Union-India free trade agreement that they say will restrict access to cheaper versions of critical medicines in developing countries. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, or Doctors without...
Patent Arcade
Mar 12, 2:10 AM PST
On Friday, March 5, 2010, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted Sony’s motion for summary judgment in Bissoon-Dath v. Sony Computer Entertainment of America, Inc. , Case No. 08-cv-012350MHP. Bissoon-Dath and a fellow plaintiff are screenwriters who...
Patent Docs
Mar 11, 9:59 PM PST
By Suresh Pillai -- DC District Court Remands Pfizer PTA Suit to USPTO Last week, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia remanded Pfizer Inc.'s challenge of the USPTO's calculation of patent term adjustment (PTA) back to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. This action by the...
Susan Crawford
Mar 11, 3:00 PM PST
The overwhelming vote in the European Parliament this week - 663-13! - to oppose the secretly-negotiated Anti-Counterfeiting and Trade Agreement was striking. They’re calling for the text to be revealed, and they’re not happy about making ISPs introduce “US-style draconian...
Patent Baristas
Mar 11, 12:28 PM PST
Earlier, the International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled that the importation and sale of certain lysine feed products did not violate section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 as amended, 19 U.S.C. § 1337. The Commission found that (1) the asserted claims of Ajinomoto’s U.S. Patents 5,827,698 and...
Patent Baristas
Mar 11, 11:32 AM PST
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) is Chairwoman of the Senate Small Business Committee. Sen. Landrieu has introduced The Small Business Patent Data Collection Act of 2010 after concerns about how the Senate patent reform bill will impact small businesses. Small businesses represent 99.7...
Copyfight - The Politics of IP
Mar 11, 9:05 AM PST
Jimmy Guterman is once again making his "The Sandinista Project" freely available for download , at least through this Sunday at midnight. His blog post links back to his reflections on the earlier limited-time offer and some of the data gathered around it. The notion of a sustainable...
IP Watch
Mar 11, 8:42 AM PST
Public interest groups in India are raising questions over annual summits involving Indian judges and policymakers that are being funded by major western industry groups, in particular pharmaceutical companies. At this year’s summit, held recently, a section of India’s patent law which...
IP Watch
Mar 11, 6:17 AM PST
The recently released US annual trade agenda shows an intention to conquer new international markets, strengthen the global trade system and enforce obligations and US intellectual property rights. The US also means to address what they consider as trade barriers. [Update: President...
Patent Docs
Mar 10, 10:17 PM PST
By Donald Zuhn -- On Tuesday, Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) introduced legislation (S. 3089) that would require the Office of Advocacy of the Small Business Administration (SBA) to conduct a study and report on the effects of changes to U.S. patent law that would result from...
Patent Prospector
Mar 10, 4:54 PM PST
Microsoft has prevailed upon the CAFC to rehear, en banc, only the willfulness portion of its affirmation of the district court ruling in i4i v. Microsoft . In other words, the CAFC cut Microsoft a break, probably because the CAFC wants another bite at cleaning up the willfulness standard. A...
EFF Press Releases
Mar 10, 3:49 PM PST
Last week, the German Constitutional Court issued a much-anticipated decision , striking down its data retention law as violating human rights. It was an important victory for Europe’s Freedom Not Fear movement, which was formed to oppose the EU Data Retention Directive. But it was also a...
EFF Press Releases
Mar 10, 12:42 PM PST
The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced on Monday key amendments to the regulation of United States sanctions against Cuba, Iran and Sudan. The new provisions give a blanket license for the export of "certain services and software incident to the exchange of...
Technology & Marketing Law
Mar 10, 10:50 AM PST
By Eric Goldman The Utah legislature has passed SB 51, the "Utah Bioprospecting Act," which requires a government-issued license (which...
Patently-O
Mar 10, 7:32 AM PST
Ajinomoto Co., Inc. v. International Trade Commission ( Fed. Cir. 2010 ) The ITC held that Ajinomoto's patents were invalid for failure to satisfy the best mode requirement of 35 U.S.C. 112. On appeal, the Federal Circuit affirmed. The two asserted patents relate to methods of producing L-lysine...
IP Watch
Mar 10, 6:42 AM PST
Sous l’égide de la Fédération Internationale des Associations de Producteurs de Films (FIAPF), deux cinéastes africains, invités au festival annuel genevois Black Movie, ont tenu à partager leurs idées sur le dynamisme du cinéma africain et la protection du droit d’auteur.
Patent Arcade
Mar 10, 1:16 AM PST
Hey everyone, if you're at GDC 2010, I will be speaking at the following two sessions: Video Game IP - What You Need to Know NOW Speaker: Ross Dannenberg (Partner, Banner & Witcoff, Ltd) Date/Time: Thursday (March 11, 2010) 9:00am — 10:00am Location (room): Room 130, North Hall...
The IPKat is all agog with the breaking news that the UK and US governments have agreed today to develop an action plan for reducing patent processing backlogs in each country's patent office. Right: it's time to party, as Patent Kats in the UK, USA and Japan prepare to solve their problems...
IPWatchdog Patent
Mar 9, 11:00 PM PST
So it is hard to see a path forward where much gets accomplished, particularly if health care passes through the use of reconciliation. Having said this, now that a “passable” bill has been written, patent reform could be of sufficiently low political importance that Democrats and Republicans...
Patent Docs
Mar 9, 9:52 PM PST
By Donald Zuhn -- Last month, the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) released its U.S. licensing survey for FY2008. According to a GenomeWeb Daily News report, a majority of the academic and research institutions that answered the survey indicated that they filed more...
EFF Press Releases
Mar 9, 5:49 PM PST
The entire family of devices built on the iPhone OS (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad) have been designed to run only software that is approved by Apple—a major shift from the norms of the personal computer market. Software developers who want Apple's approval must first agree to the iPhone...
Kats are not biologically equipped to play any wind instruments, but this one feels mildly tempted to try blowing its own trumpet just a little. Yesterday this weblog secured its 4,000th email subscriber. The Kats are indebted to all their subscribers, and not just the most recent ones, for their...
Patent Prospector
Mar 9, 3:18 PM PST
The American arm of Japan's Ajinomoto complained to the ITC to stop foreign imports of dietary supplement lysine, under the aegis of 5,827,698 and 6,040,160 . The snag was that their patent applications didn't actually disclose their production techniques. That cost them the patents for...
IP Watch
Mar 9, 1:46 PM PST
The United Nations International Telecommunication Union (ITU) today released an annual report on information and communications technologies that prompted it to push governments to support continued investment in network rollouts and technology upgrades while pursuing...
Patent Baristas
Mar 9, 8:37 AM PST
I have blogged in the past about non-traditional trademarks. However the recent case of North Face and South Butt begs the discussion of trade dress and hence a comparison of the case in question with the precedents is unavoidable to glean whether South Butt does infringe North Face’s trade dress...
Patently-O
Mar 9, 5:05 AM PST
I have been continually impressed with the Harvard Journal of Law & Technology's Digest ( JOLT Digest ). The Digest is written in blog format by law students and covers interesting IP and technology related cases. Recent cases of interest include Reed Elsevier v. Muchnick , No. 08–103...
Patently-O
Mar 9, 4:33 AM PST
Alloc, Inc. v. Pergo, Inc. (Fed. Cir. 2010)( nonprecedential ) Alloc and Pergo both manufacture and sell laminate flooring. Pergo's patents cover a mechanical joint that allows the "boards" to be joined together without the usual glue or nails. After being threatened, Alloc filed a declaratory judgment...
Patent Docs
Mar 8, 9:59 PM PST
By Donald Zuhn -- On February 25th, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) announced that the Committee had reached a "tentative agreement in principle" regarding patent reform legislation (see "Chairman Leahy Announces 'Tentative Agreement in...
Patent Docs
Mar 8, 9:50 PM PST
By Sarah Fendrick -- In order to assess the burden of patent-related paperwork, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has retained ICF International (ICF) to conduct an independent study. As described in a notice in the Federal Regster (75 Fed. Reg. 8649), the overall objectives of the...
Brazil has outlined the details of its retaliation against the United States, following the latter's refusal to comply with a World Trade Organization ruling that it had wrongly subsidised its local cotton production, preventing Brazil from exporting its own cotton there. According to Reuters tonight...
Patently-O
Mar 8, 12:25 PM PST
David French has been writing about the proposed change to a first-to-file system in the Patent Reform Act of 2010. Mr. French was closely involved with Canada's 1989 switch to a first-to-file system. Rather than moving to an absolute novelty system, the proposal calls for a limited grace period for...
Copyfight - The Politics of IP
Mar 8, 9:37 AM PST
Last month I noted that Blizzard were creating the World of Warcraft magazine purely for people who had already subscribed . In effect the publication was done for people who had already said (by virtue of plunking down money) that they wanted to read it. A friend just pointed me to Kim...
"Legal Rights for Yorkshire Puddings" is the slightly misleading title of a news item spotted by the IPKat's friend Sang Nkhwazi (Mancunium IP), since the rights are actually being sought for those who believe themselves to be the persons exclusively entitled to describe their wares as...
Patent Docs
Mar 7, 9:14 PM PST
By James DeGiulio -- On February 9th, Athersys, Inc. was issued U.S. Patent No. 7,659,118 covering multipotent adult stem cells (MASC), their isolation and expansion, and related pharmaceutical compositions. In a February 10, 2010 press release, the Cleveland-based company also...
A typical week for the AmeriKat usually includes several trademark occurrences, such as absentmindedly reading the Evening Standard , getting newspaper ink on one's paws, then wiping the ink all over one's face and nose leather . Or, sitting across from someone on the Tube who...
IPWatchdog Patent
Mar 6, 11:00 PM PST
As I was searching I perused data on the most active stocks for Friday, March 5, 2010 on ClearStation.com. While I don’t try and time the market or any stock, per se, I do think that trends can be helpful to identify what others are thinking and doing, which of course does affect stock price. I personally...
Patent Prospector
Mar 5, 8:10 PM PST
5,955,955 claims a computer drive bay fan, meant to cool the hard drives right in their own living room. '955 owner Comaper sued Antec for infringement. Trial found Antec willfully infringing some claims. Some claims were obvious to the jury, others validly novel. Appeal found that...
Video Game Law
Mar 5, 3:16 PM PST
Jason West and Vince Zampella, co-founders of Infinity Ward, have allegedly filed a lawsuit against Acitivision Publishing Inc. claiming breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, wrongful termination in violation of public policy and declaratory...
Patent Baristas
Mar 5, 12:45 PM PST
Here comes the Patent Reform Act of 2010 in the form of an Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute to S. 515 (“ Amendment to S. 515 ”). I know, you’ve heard all this before with the Patent Reform Act of 2009 , the Patent Reform Act of 2008 , the Patent Reform Act of 2007 , the Patent...
Technology & Marketing Law
Mar 5, 10:45 AM PST
By Eric Goldman Today, Rescuecom issued a press release declaring victory in its litigation against Google. But it's an odd...
Technology & Marketing Law
Mar 5, 9:15 AM PST
[Post by Venkat] Kramer v. Bartok, Case No. 08-3841 (8th Cir. Feb. 19, 2010) (scribd link). The Eighth Circuit recently...
Patently-O
Mar 5, 5:00 AM PST
Etan Chatlynne reports post-KSR patent validity decisions with a special focus on the presumption of validity and the clear and convincing standard for rebutting that presumption. He finds that the presumption and evidentiary standard did not affect thirty-eight of forty-five (84%) Federal Circuit...
Thanks go to fellow blogger Hugo Cox for drawing the IPKat's attention to this note on the UK's IPO website concerning a reference to the European Court of Justice in Case C- 34/10 Oliver Brüstle v Greenpeace e.V . This case seeks a preliminary ruling on the following questions: "1...
TechKnowledgy
Mar 4, 6:57 PM PST
Last week Microsoft launched a successful, but complicated and multifaceted assault on the botnet known as Waldec. The manuever invovled simultaneously shutting down 277 internet domains responsible for sending up to 1.5 billion...
EFF Press Releases
Mar 4, 1:32 PM PST
Last month, we celebrated the 20th anniversary of the founding of EFF at the DNA Lounge in San Francisco, joined by Adam Savage, the founders of EFF and dozens of other Internet luminaries. For non-local EFF supporters, we've put the gorgeous photos that John Adams and Johnny Grace...
Video Game Law
Mar 4, 12:10 PM PST
HRSDC intends to eliminate the Information Technology Workers category any day. Provide your support for saving the IT category - Information Technology Workers The IT Category - Advantages to Avoiding LMO Applications The standard work permit process for temporary foreign...
