Sycamore Brewing versus Stone Brewing Over “Keep it Juicy” Phrase on Packaging By Ashley E. Holland Stone Brewing might have to change its marketing and packaging around its popular Hazy IPA beer. On April 21, The District Court for the Western District of North Carolina granted Sycamore Brewing’s request for Stone Brewing to stop using the phrase “keep it juicy” on their boxes of Hazy IPA beer. This case centered on […] Continue Reading →
USPTO Continues Transition to Filing Patent Applications in DOCX By Luke T. Mohrhauser The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) continues the push towards requiring all patent applications to be filed in DOCX format, instead of PDF, which is currently the case. Applicants would be able to still file in PDF format, but with an extra surcharge fee. As you recall, this was intended to go into […] Continue Reading →
MVS Celebrates World Intellectual Property Day 2022 By McKee, Voorhees & Sease, PLC is excited to support World Intellectual Property Day on April 26, 2022. This day celebrates the role intellectual property rights play in encouraging innovation and creativity and the many inspiring inventors and creators around the world who are working to provide for a better tomorrow. The theme for this year’s […] Continue Reading →
It Is Our Duty to Protect the Patent System. Here’s How We Can. By Heidi Sease Nebel This article was first published in AUTM Insight. As an attorney in private practice, time is money – quite literally. The billable hour looms over every business day. With that in mind, people often ask me why I choose to volunteer my time and serve for organizations such as AUTM, the Plant Variety Protection (PVP) […] Continue Reading →
Get out and Support Technology Transfer and the USICA! By Heidi Sease Nebel Research that is conducted at our many Universities has changed the lives of us all with valuable scientific advances that translate into commercial products. Public sector research has lead to ground breaking new technology such as gene editing, as well as cutting-edge mRNA Covid-19 vaccines. Other commercial products such as high-definition televisions, Google’s search algorithm, […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit Identifies Questions For Evaluating New Claims In IPR proceedings By Joseph M. Hallman On March 24, 2022, in Hunting Titan, Inc. v. DynaEnergetics Europe GmbH, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“Federal Circuit”) affirmed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (“PTAB”) decision finding the claims of the US Patent No. 9,581,422 (“the ‘422 patent”) to be unpatentable as anticipated. The Federal Circuit also affirmed the decision […] Continue Reading →
New Head for U.S. Patent & Trademark Office Confirmed by Senate By Kirk M. Hartung On April 5, 2022, the U.S. Senate confirmed Kathy Vidal as the new Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the US Patent & Trademark Office. The position had been vacant for over a year following President Biden taking office, though Drew Hirshfeld had been informally fulfilling the duties of the director. […] Continue Reading →
COVID-19 Prioritized Examination Pilot Program Extended By Brian D. Keppler, Ph.D. The USPTO recently announced on March 25, 2022 that the COVID-19 Prioritized Examination Pilot Program has been extended for a third time. Requests for prioritized examination filed in qualifying patent applications will now be accepted until midnight on June 30, 2022. The pilot program began accepting requests on July 13, 2020 and was initially limited […] Continue Reading →
Retired Federal Circuit Judge Seeks Patent Law Clarification By Kirk M. Hartung With her retirement from the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on March 11, 2022, Judge Kathleen O’Malley feels the need to express her sentiments on several patent law issues that need attention from the Supreme Court or from Congress. She served on this Court (which has exclusive jurisdiction for patent appeals from U.S. […] Continue Reading →