UK Court Decision: Artificial Intelligence Machine Is Not An Inventor

By Kirk M. Hartung

DABUS, the artificial intelligence machine named as the sole inventor on two UK patent applications, has been denied the status of inventor by the Patent Court of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales.  In an appeal from the UK Patent Office by the applicant, Stephen Thaler, the Court ruled on September 21, […]

Monster Mash: Minor League Hockey Team Prevails Over Energy Drink Giant in Trademark Dispute

By Nicholas J. Krob

In the spirit of Halloween, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board recently issued an opinion settling an ongoing dispute between two monsters. These monsters—energy drink company Monster Energy and a minor league hockey team named the Cleveland Monsters—found themselves at odds over the use of the “Monster” trademark. In particular, Monster Energy opposed the Cleveland […]

Federal Circuit Affirms Intrinsic Evidence Trumps Extrinsic Evidence During Claim Construction

By Joseph M. Hallman

On October 13, 2020, in Immunex Corp. v. Sanofi-Aventis U.S. LLC, Genzyme Corp., and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“Federal Circuit”) affirmed-in-part and dismissed-in-part an appeal from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) holding that when it comes to claim construction, intrinsic evidence trumps extrinsic evidence. […]

Pioneers of Revolutionary CRISPR Gene Editing Win Chemistry’s Nobel Peace Prize

By Heidi Sease Nebel

Two scientists who pioneered the revolutionary gene-editing technology are the winners of this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Emmanuelle Charpentier, now at the Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens in Berlin, and Jennifer Doudna, at the University of California, Berkeley, were recognized for their work developing the CRISPR–Cas9 gene-editing tools. The technology allows […]

Obtaining Copyright Registrations for Blogs and Social Media Posts Just Got Easier

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Online content creators including bloggers and social media influencers are now able to take advantage of a new group copyright registration option for short online works such as blog entries, social media posts, and other short online works. The Copyright Office recently adopted the rule implementing this new group registration to help ease the burden […]

Heidi S. Nebel Appointed to the National Plant Variety Protection Board

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The U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced the appointment of Heidi S. Nebel, Intellectual Property (IP) Attorney, Managing Member, and Chair of the Biotechnology & Chemical Practice Group at McKee, Voorhees & Sease, PLC, to serve on the Plant Variety Protection (PVP) Board. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the PVP […]

New Grape Varieties – Raisin Awareness of Plant Patents

By Brian D. Keppler, Ph.D.

You may have noticed more options for grapes at your local grocery store in recent years. In addition to the typical red, black, and green grapes that have always been available, there are now unusual shapes and unique flavors including those grapes that that taste like cotton candy! But have you thought about how these […]

Manufacturing Day in Iowa

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed a proclamation declaring October 2 as Manufacturing Day in Iowa. The first Friday of October is the annual celebration of Manufacturing Day across the country. She signed the proclamation during the Association of Business and Industry (ABI) Advanced Manufacturing Conference earlier this week. The proclamation states: Modern manufacturing is advancing […]