USPTO Director Jon Dudas talks patent reform Over at ZDnet there is very good coverage of a recent speech about patent reform by USPTO director Jon Dudas. Mr. Dudas spoke at the Tech Policy Summit on the issue of whether the patent system was hurting innovation. Mr. Dudas stated that the biggest problem leading to bad quality patents is the obviousness requirement, […] Continue Reading →
Voluntary dismissal prevents award of attorney fees under § 285 In a recent case, the Federal Circuit found that when a plaintiff voluntarily dismisses its case under Rule 41(a)(1)(i) before an answer is served, the defendant is not a “prevailing party.” As a result, attorney fees under § 285 could not be awarded by the district court. More details of the case after the jump. RFR […] Continue Reading →
Today’s lesson from the Federal Circuit (that you should already know): Don’t miss deadlines In a case decided today, the Federal Circuit affirmed the TTAB’s dismissal of a party’s cancellation claim. The party seeking cancellation sought to do so by proving uncontrolled licensing of the trademark, but failed to file a notice of reliance with regard to the relevant testimony on the issue before the deadline. The TTAB denied […] Continue Reading →
Comparison of Commercial Products not the vehicle to analyze equivalence In a second appearance before the Federal Circuit, AquaTex again appealed a decision of the District Court that Techniche Solutions’ Cooling Apparel did not infringe their U.S. Patent No. 6,371,977 for a protective multi-layered liquid retaining composition. The Federal Circuit had previously affirmed the lower court’s finding of no literal infringement while remanding the case […] Continue Reading →
Back to the Future: trade dress found functional in 1985 still functional in 2007 The Federal Circuit once again rejected Bose Corporation's application to register a speaker design as a trademark. The court had earlier affirmed a finding of functionality by the USPTO, and because there were no changed circumstances since that decision, the court once again affirmed the same finding based on the doctrine of res judicata (claim […] Continue Reading →
Roundup of media coverage of Microsoft v. AT&T oral arguments, more to come for Microsoft? Now that the oral arguments before the Supreme Court have passed, various media outlets have had the opportunity to weigh in on the arguments and offer their predictions as to how the case will come out. A sampling of this media coverage is below: Seattle Post Intelligencer USA Today Boston Globe Houston Chronicle Forbes Los […] Continue Reading →
No Crying Over Spilled Milk – Held to Claim Construction During Prosecution Nouri Hakim appealed the decisions of the District Court of Western Louisiana granting Cannon Avent Group’s motion for summary judgment that Avent did not infringe one of Hakim’s patents (“the ‘931 patent“) and finding another of Hakim’s patents invalid (“the ‘620 patent“). The patents-in-suit involved the art of non-spill drinking cups and the apparatus in […] Continue Reading →
Supreme Court to hear oral arguments regarding scope of US patent law This morning the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Microsoft Corp. v. AT&T Corp., a case about the potential extraterritorial reach of United States patent law. Specifically, the case deals with § 271(f)(1), which states that: (f)(1) Whoever without authority supplies or causes to be supplied in or from the United States all or […] Continue Reading →
On this date: 1842 William Greenough patents the first sewing machine. Patent available at the USPTO here, and at Google here. Continue Reading →
Interesting tidbits from today’s oral argument in “Microsoft v. AT&T” A few interesting exchanges took place in today’s oral arguments before the Supreme Court in the Microsoft v. AT&T case. Click to read these portions of the arguments.The first related to jurisdiction. The parties had entered into a “high/low” settlement before the arguments, which essentially means that they have settled the case, but depending on […] Continue Reading →