Protecting Your Nanotechnology Inventions – Part 4: Don’t Forget About Trade Secret Protection

By Jonathan L. Kennedy

When you have a new invention, the right question to ask at the outset is whether you want to consider patenting it. This is important because many common activities in research and commercialization can create a bar to patent protection or at least start a one-year clock by which a patent must be filed. Some […]

Can Competitors Use Your Trademarks in their Webpages or as AdWords to Drive Business to their Webpages?

By Mark D. Hansing

The article below discusses state of the law regarding competitors using your trademarks in their advertising or web pages, or competitors purchasing your trademarks as what are called “AdWords” or “keywords” so that your competitor’s website comes up higher in a search engine search when people use your trademarks as search terms. The Problem Many […]

Light at the End of the Tunnel? Expanding Concepts of What is Patentable Subject Matter

Justice Warren Burger in the seminal case of Diamond v. Chakrabarty found that Congress had intended patentable subject matter to “include anything under the sun that is made by man,” holding that an engineered bacterium used in treating oil spills was patentable. Diamond v. Chakrabarty, 447 US 303 (1980). Yet interpretation of subsequent decisions on […]

The Rollercoaster Ride of Gene Therapy

Gene therapy has had several ups and downs since the idea of editing genes for therapy was first published in 1972. While there have been several instances of successful attempts of treatment in humans, there have also been cases failures which have, at times, temporarily halted clinical studies. One of the main issues with gene […]

2018 Farm Act has important IP Implications

By Heidi Sease Nebel

At long last, the 2018 Farm bill has been approved by Congress and forwarded to the President for signature. As I blogged earlier, the bill has important Intellectual Property Implications. The first is that it adds PVP protection for asexually reproduced plants. The  addition will allow asexually reproduced plants, which are now protectable under the […]

Rapper Sues the Makers of Fortnite Claiming Copyright Infringement of Dance Moves

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Rapper 2 Milly has filed a copyright and right of publicity lawsuit against the makers of the Fortnite video game claiming that they are illegally using a dance move that he created in their wildly popular video game. The Brooklyn-based rapper, whose real name is Terrence Ferguson, alleges that Fortnite-maker Epic Games is misappropriating his dance […]

The European Patent Office Board holds a rule can no longer be used to Reject Plant and Animal Breeding Inventions

The European Technical board of Appeal during an oral hearing December 5th decided a rule that had been used to reject plant and animal breeding claims is in conflict with a European Patent Convention (EPC) Article, with the result of reversing the impact of the rule in preventing patenting of such claims. With this decision, it […]