Dropbox’s Patents Invalidated for Patent-Ineligible Subject Matter

By Julie L. Spieker

On June 19, 2020 The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (hereinafter the “Federal Circuit”) affirmed a district court’s ruling that Dropbox’s three patents claim abstract ideas and further provide no inventive concept transforming the abstract idea into patentable subject matter. Dropbox and their wholly owned subsidiary, Orcinus Holdings, (hereinafter referred to […]

Expedited Examination for Certain COVID-19 Related Trademarks

By Christine Lebron-Dykeman

As a part of the USPTO’s ongoing effort to support innovation of life-saving treatments during the COVID-19 pandemic, the USPTO recently announced a new prioritized trademark examination program for trademark applications covering certain COVID-19 related products and services. The new process will fast track these trademark applications and save two plus months of the standard […]

Political Campaigns and Unauthorized Music

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As the 2020 presidential election approaches so does the opportunity for political candidates to end up in the headlines for using unauthorized music in their campaigns. In nearly every campaign cycle you hear about a recording artist or songwriter upset that a politician or campaign used the artist’s music without authorization. In fact, Tom Petty’s […]

Technology Week in Iowa 2020

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed a proclamation designating the third week in June as Technology Week in Iowa with the first one taking place the week of June 22 – 26, 2020. In her proclamation Governor Reynolds stated: Iowa has excelled in the advancement of technology from our countless startups to tech giants like Google, […]

Artificial Intelligence and WIPO

By Kirk M. Hartung

On May 21, the World Intellectual Property Organization, a global forum for IP services, policy, information and cooperation, issued a revised paper on intellectual property policy and artificial intelligence (AI).  Acknowledging that AI is a general purpose technology that has widespread applications, WIPO held an initial “conversation” with interested parties in September, 2019.  WIPO then […]

Potential Rule Changes Affecting Post-Grant Proceedings at the USPTO

By Blog Staff

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is proposing changes to a number of rules applied to post-grant proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (Board). The proposed rules, which were published in the Federal Register on May 27, 2020, would affect inter partes review (IPR), post-grant review (PGR), and the transitional program for covered […]

Strong Patents Encourge Research into Emergent Diseases

Scientists have been asked many questions over the past few months, such as why the current pandemic was not prevented or what would be needed to prevent future outbreaks of emergent diseases. The short answer is vastly more research needs to be done. Emergent diseases are, by definition, diseases which have not appeared before within […]

Celebrating World Food Safety Day – June 7, 2020

As we celebrate World Food Safety Day, we applaud all our clients in providing food that maintains the highest safety standards. Safe eating is a goal for everyone, rich or poor, old or young. Since we need to be able to trust the food we eat is safe for all of us, World Food Safety […]

EPO does not follow the US and JEM on Patentability of Plants

By Heidi Sease Nebel

The Enlarged Board of Appeal has recently handed down its highly anticipated decision regarding the patentability of plants and plant varieties, in which the product is exclusively obtained by an essentially biological process (plant breeding). The Board held that plants and animals that are the result of traditional breeding or any other essentially biological process […]