MVS Wins Trademark Case at the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals By MVS is pleased to announce that the Eighth Circuit affirmed Tuesday a lower court ruling, in our client’s favor, that threw out Pocket Plus’s trademark suit against Running Buddy over a competing waistband pouch, agreeing that the asserted trade dress is functional and thus not protected by trademark law. The three-judge panel’s published opinion upholds […] Continue Reading →
WIPO issues the Green Technology Book By Jill N. Link, Pharm.D. Today WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) released a digital resource called The Green Technology Book. The reference provides a 2022 report of technology trends and solutions for combating climate change. It further addresses how the intellectual property system can assist in adapting for climate change. This intersection of green technology and intellectual property provides practical […] Continue Reading →
US Supreme Court Agrees to Review Patent Enablement Case By Julie L. Spieker Last Friday, the Supreme Court accepted Amgen’s request to review Section 112 of the Patent Act and consider how much a patent specification must disclose to meet enablement requirements. Specifically, the Court will review whether a patent must disclose enough information for the skilled artisan to “reach the full scope” of the claims, or whether […] Continue Reading →
Luke T. Mohrhauser to be the Next Managing Member of MVS By We are excited to announce that Luke T. Mohrhauser has been elected to be the next Managing Member of McKee, Voorhees & Sease, PLC., succeeding Heidi S. Nebel. Luke’s term begins on January 1, 2023. “I am honored to have been chosen by my fellow Members to be the next leader of MVS,” said Luke. […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit clarifies rules regarding patent term adjustment By Joseph M. Hallman Last month, in Sawstop Holding LLC v. Vidal, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“Federal Circuit”) affirmed two decisions by the District Court of the Eastern District of Virginia regarding patent term adjustment (“PTA”) for two patents owned by Sawstop Holding LLC (“Sawstop”). In both decisions the District Court granted summary judgement in […] Continue Reading →
Genetically Modified Purple Tomatoes By Brian D. Keppler, Ph.D. Purple tomatoes developed by Norfolk Plant Sciences in the UK may be coming to grocery stores in the not too distant future. Last month, USDA APHIS announced that, from a plant pest risk perspective, the purple tomato may be safely grown and used in breeding in the US. The purple color of the tomato is […] Continue Reading →
Who Owns the Copyright in A Tattoo? By 17 U.S.C § 201. Ownership of a Copyright. (a) Initial Ownership. — Copyright in a work protected under this title vests initially in the author or authors of the work. The authors of a joint work are coowners of copyright in the work. The ownership of the copyright in a tattoo has long been the […] Continue Reading →
Major Overhaul to the USPTO’s Public Patent Searching Tools By Gregory Lars Gunnerson On September 30, the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) new Patent Public Search tool (PPUBS) replaced four legacy tools—Public-Examiner’s Automated Search Tool (PubEAST), Public-Web-based Examiner’s Search Tool (PubWEST), Patent Full-Text and Image Database (PatFT), and Patent Application Full-Text and Image Database (AppFT). Patent Public Search provides more convenient, remote, and robust full-text searching of all […] Continue Reading →
Mochi Muffins and the Need to Develop Value-Conscious, Emotionally-Intelligent Trademark Portfolios By Sarah M.D. Luth After much controversy, a Bay Area bakery has recently voluntarily surrendered its trademark for “mochi muffin.” Third Culture bakery, the self-declared “home of the mochi muffin” came under fire in June after the San Francisco Chronicle published an article accusing the bakery owners of obtaining a trademark for a “common term” and subsequently sending cease-and-desist letters to other businesses […] Continue Reading →
New Organization Created to Promote Strong IP Rights By Kirk M. Hartung The Council for Innovation Promotion was launched on September 22 as a bipartisan coalition to promote strong and effective intellectual property rights. The organization was formed by a team of leaders in intellectual property: Frank Cullen, former V.P of U.S. Policy, Chamber of Commerce Global Innovation Policy Center; Andrei Iancu, former Under Secretary of Commerce […] Continue Reading →