US Copyright Office Issues Best Practices to Reduce Unclaimed Royalties

By Julie L. Spieker

As directed by the Music Modernization Act (“MMA”), on Thursday, July 8, 2021, the US Copyright Office (the “Office”) released a public report to recommend best practices for the Mechanical Licensing Collective (“MLC”) to effectively match copyright owners with unclaimed royalties for musical works, and ultimately reduce the incidence of unclaimed royalties. Unclaimed royalties are […]

Dissent by Judge Newman highlights the expanding instability in the patent eligibility inquiry under § 101

By Joseph M. Hallman

On June 11, 2021, in Yu v. Apple Inc., the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“Federal Circuit”) affirmed a decision by the Northern District of California dismissing a patent infringement case on the grounds that the asserted claims were invalid due to patent ineligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101. A decision […]

Oatly – wow no cow, yes patents

By Brian D. Keppler, Ph.D.

Oatly, the Swedish oat milk company, has been in the news recently with their initial public offering occurring just last month. Initially priced at $17, shares jumped to $22 on the first day of trading and have been as high as $29 since (which equates to a market cap of over $17 billion!). In the […]

Increase in Trademark Applications Means Delays at the USPTO

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Commissioner for Trademarks, David Gooder, recently announced that a surge of trademark application filings at the USPTO has created significantly longer processing times. Gooder stated that as of June 17, 2021, new trademark applications have increased roughly 63%, or about 211,000 more applications, over the previous year. In December 2020 alone, the USPTO received 92,608 […]

Edmund J. Sease Conceives and Coordinates Important Drake Law Review Spring 2021 Intellectual Property Special Edition Issue

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MVS is pleased to announce that Edmund J. Sease, intellectual property attorney and named partner, conceived and coordinated the Drake Law Review Spring 2021 Intellectual Property Special Edition Issue dedicated to controversial and timely patent law topics. This publication includes articles that are authored by several prominent people in this field of law including: Honorable […]

COVID-19 VACCINE IP WAIVERS AND PLATFORM PATENTS

By Charles P. Romano, Ph.D.

The recent announcement by US Trade Representative Katherine Tai that the “US supports the waiver of IP protections on COVID-19 vaccines to help end the pandemic” has led to concern over the potential scope and effect of such waivers. Forced disclosure of trade secrets related to vaccine manufacturing processes has generated the most concern since […]

Who is on the IP naughty list this year?

Every year the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) releases two lists of countries that have concerns surrounding their intellectual property (IP) laws and enforcement and may provide insight if considering filing an application in a certain country. These two lists are the Special 301 Report and the Notorious Markets List, available here. The […]

Clearly using “clear” for Non-Transparent Goods is Deceptively Misdescriptive.

By Julie L. Spieker

Dolce Vita Footware, Inc. sought registration of the mark CLEAR for various bags, purses, wallets, and card cases – excluding transparent goods. The Examiner refused registration on the grounds that it is deceptively misdescriptive and on April 29, 2021 the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (the “TTAB”) affirmed. In its original registration, Dolce Vita identified […]

MVS Supports World Intellectual Property Day 2021

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McKee, Voorhees & Sease, PLC is proud to support World Intellectual Property Day on April 26, 2021. 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 event was established by […]

Inherent anticipation – Is the phenotype exhibited by a transgenic plant an inherent feature?

By Brian D. Keppler, Ph.D.

A claim is anticipated only if each and every element as set forth in the claim is found, either expressly or inherently described, in a single prior art reference. If a prior art reference expressly sets forth each of the elements of a claim, then there is typically little question of whether or not the […]