Inventors Hall of Fame announces 2007 inductees The National Inventors Hall of Fame has announced this year’s inductees. In all, 16 inventors were inducted, 7 living and 9 posthumously. Those honored include: Paul Baran and Donald Davies for digital packet switching Paul Lauterbur and Peter Mansfield for Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) Emmett Chappelle for Bioluminescence techniques Leroy Hood for the automated DNA […] Continue Reading →
Dippin’ Dots: brought to you by inequitable conduct, but not an antitrust violation What do Dippin' Dots, the little beads of ice cream sold at fairs, stadiums, and malls, have to do with patent and antitrust law? For the Federal Circuit, they presented the "close case" where a patent holder can be found to have engaged in inequitable conduct during prosecution of the patent but is not liable […] Continue Reading →
Seventh Circuit: single sale insufficient use in commerce to support trademark registration In Custom Vehicles, Inc. v. Forest River, Inc., the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals held that a trademark plaintiff did not engage in sufficient use in commerce to support trademark rights. Even worse for the plaintiff, the court held that even if there were sufficient use, the mark at issue was descriptive, and there was […] Continue Reading →
India’s Union Cabinet approves accession to Madrid Protocol Today, India’s Union Cabinet approved India’s accession to the Madrid Protocol, the international treaty relating to registration of trademarks. The next step will be introduction of Bill in India’s Parliament to finalize the accession and to amend India’s trademark laws to include the requirements of the Madrid Protocol. The Madrid Protocol permits trademark applicants to […] Continue Reading →
Bush proposes 8% increase in USPTO funding for fiscal 2008 In his proposed budget released on Monday, President Bush proposed $1.9 billion in funding for the USPTO in fiscal year 2008. In addition to this amount, USPTO fees would also not be diverted to cover other government programs, instead permitting the USPTO to use the full amount of collected fees for operating expenses, including hiring […] Continue Reading →
Are wedding receptions full of copyright infringers? Maybe, if you ask Richard Silver. Mr. Silver claims to have invented the dance known as the “Electric Slide” at a disco in 1976. He registered a copyright on his performance of the dance in 2004. While Mr. Silver’s claims may seem dubious (such as, for example, his claims on his website that he also […] Continue Reading →
Jurisdiction over Foreign Patents Requires – 1367(c) Analysis The question before the Federal Circuit in Jan K. Voda, M.D. v. Cordis Corporation was whether where an accused infringer is shown to have moved its infringing activities offshore to Germany, the U.K. and elsewhere, does supplemental jurisdiction of the court, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. ? 1367, permit an infringement determination under the parallel foreign […] Continue Reading →