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Patent Covering Methods of Advanced Genomic Selection from Guinea Pigs to Corn Survives Opposition in EU

By Cassie J. Edgar

Effectively protecting improved genetics requires a multi-pillared strategy considering the biological organisms themselves, methods of use, methods of breeding, and any regulatory data protection. The EPO recently upheld a patent (EP 2813141, granted August 5, 2015) drawn to methods of breeding using genome-wide estimated breeding values (EBVs) to identify combinations of individuals in a population […]

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Uber Learns Trade Secret Law the Hard Way in Settlement with Waymo over Self-Driving Car Technology

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In the middle of trial with Google’s self-driving car company, Waymo, Uber settled the trade secret litigation brought by Google. Uber will turn over 0.34% of its equity, which has been estimated at $245 million dollars in value. The dispute resulted when Uber hired a former employee of Waymo, not knowing that the engineer had […]

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Federal Judge Rules Embedded Tweet Violated Copyright

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In a surprising ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Katherine B. Forrest, recently ruled that several news organizations and publishers violated a photographer’s copyright when they “embedded” a photo from Twitter on their websites without permission. Judge Forrest’s decision to grant the plaintiff’s motion for partial Summary Judgement is sure to be controversial and could prove […]

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The Future of GMOs in the UK Post-Brexit

By Sarah M.D. Luth

Following the United Kingdom triggering its formal exit from the European Union, negotiations regarding the details of the exit and the following transition period have begun. As one could expect, this negotiation process has brought to light underlying tensions between the UK and the EU. These tensions recently reached a peak when earlier this month […]

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The Plant Naming Conundrum … Protecting Your Plant Varieties in the Short and Long Term

By Christine Lebron-Dykeman

Development of a new plant cultivar or varietal often requires substantial research and development. These costs can be recovered, however, if a breeder is able to successfully market, sell and/or license the resulting product, while maintaining exclusive ownership rights therein.  There are, of course, a variety of intellectual property protection schemes available to maintain those […]

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Time to Consider Patent Protection in China

By Kirk M. Hartung

In the past decade, the Chinese government has made substantial policy changes regarding protection for intellectual property, both for obtaining rights and enforcing rights. These policies are generally favorable to patent owners and are intended to incentivize innovation. In December, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) published statistics for worldwide patent application filings for 2016, […]

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Space Systems Loral to Proceed with Trade Secret Theft Lawsuit Against Orbital ATK

By Gregory Lars Gunnerson

Daniel Wilson of Law360.com reports on Friday, February 2nd, U.S. District Judge Raymound A. Jackson “trimmed two claims from space technology company SSL’s suit accusing rival Orbital ATK of stealing its trade secrets through a shared NASA server, but refused to toss the suit, saying SSL had adequately pled the majority of its allegations.” SSL […]

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AIAA Honors Inventor Dr. Jay Gundlach

By Gregory Lars Gunnerson

On January 16, 2018, Lawrence Garrett reported The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) chose to honor Senior Member Dr. Jay Gundlach in the AIAA Momentum Member Spotlight for January 2018. With respect to Dr. Gundlach’s intellectual property endeavors, Lawrence notes: For the past two decades, Dr. Jay Gundlach has been a pioneering force behind […]

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Protecting Your Company’s Innovations

By Kirk M. Hartung

In 2017, over 600,000 patent applications were filed with the U.S. Patent Office, the most in its history. Clearly, a business plan for intellectual property may provide substantial value to your company, or you may be leaving substantial value on the table. Failure to plan is, in essence, a plan to fail. A thorough plan, […]

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