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. […]

Gore-Tex Inventor Passes Away

By Kirk M. Hartung

Robert W. Gore, who invented the waterproof material called Gore-Tex, passed away on September 17, 2020.  Gore was born in 1937 in Salt Lake City, Utah.  He earned a bachelors degree in chemical engineering from the University of Delaware in 1959, and received master and PhD degrees in Chem E from the University of Minnesota […]

USPTO to Provide a Deferred-Fee Provisional Patent Application Pilot Program

By Luke T. Mohrhauser

In yet another effort to encourage innovation to combat COVID-19, the United States Patent and Trademark Office recently announced a pilot program that attempts to expedite the protection and disclosure of innovations. The pilot program, titled “Deferred-Fee Provisional Patent Application Pilot Program and Collaboration Database to Encourage Inventions Related to COVID-19”, allows inventors to file […]

Fungal Fashion: Mycelium ‘Leather’

By Sarah M.D. Luth

Cultivation of fungi has occurred for thousands of years. Evidence of fermented beverages using yeast dates back to as early as 7000 BCE. In the modern era, fungi are commonly used in the pharmaceutical industry, food and beverage industry, plastics industry, and others. The fashion industry is increasingly seeking methods of making and incorporating sustainable […]

Utility Models in China

By Gregory Lars Gunnerson

A utility model is a patent-like intellectual property right to protect inventions. American, Canadian, and British inventors and companies are often unaware that such rights exist, given that their laws do not allow for registration of these rights. Utility models are generally cheaper to obtain and maintain, have a shorter term (generally 6 to 15 […]

Comparing Apples to Pears

Earlier this year, Apple, the holders of one of the strongest and most recognizable trademarks in the world, filed an opposition on the last day possible to a trademark application filed by Super Healthy Kids. Super Healthy Kids is a small business, currently only having around five employees, and created an iOS and Android application […]