MIT Offers Free Course Materials on United States Copyright Law The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is offering an introductory course to Copyrights via its OpenCourseWare website. The website describes the course as “an introduction to copyright law and American law in general.” Topics covered include: 1) Structure of federal law 2) Basics of legal research 3) Legal citations 4) How to use LexisNexis? 5) […] Continue Reading →
Celebrities are inventors too Inventors come from all walks of life, so it shouldn't be a surprise that celebrities are inventors also. One blogger used the new Google patent search to search for famous names as inventors of patents. Click here for the list of patents he discovered. Figures from a few of my favorites after the jump. Click […] Continue Reading →
Speculation not required: IP litigation in 2006 produced $3.4 billion Contrary to the statement in the previous post, apparently speculation is not required to determine the amount of money that changed hands as a result of intellectual property litigation in 2006. According to a survey [subscription required to view full story] by IP Law 360, intellectual property litigation resulted in a combined $3.4 billion in […] Continue Reading →
Patent cases in 2006 result in over $1 billion in damages awarded According to a study released by Bloomberg, United States juries in patent cases awarded a total of over $1 billion in damages in cases that went to jury trial in 2006, the largest single year ever. The largest award went to Rambus, a California maker of computer memory chips, who won a $307 million verdict […] Continue Reading →
Another claim construction reversal: Claim not limited to preferred embodiment In a split decision, the Federal Circuit reversed a district court’s judgment of noninfringement based on error in claim construction. The patent at issue involves a machine and method that automate the staining of microscope slides used in biological assays. The district court construed the claims narrowly based on the preferred embodiment described in the […] Continue Reading →
Working until the end of the year, Federal Circuit addresses a Law School Exam Type Case The Federal Circuit affirmed a Southern District of Indiana decision that generic drug makers IVAX Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Dr. Reddy’s Labratories, Ltd. (DRL) and Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. infringed Eli Lilly and Company’s (Lilly) U.S. Patent no. 5,229,382. The ‘382 Patent claims chemical compound olanzapine and the use of the compound to treat schizophrenia. The infringers […] Continue Reading →
New GAO report suggests that some patents may hamper development of new “innovative” drugs A report released by the Government Accountability Office indicates that while expenditures on research and development by drug companies have increased, this has not resulted in a commensurate increase in new drug applications (NDAs) with the FDA. In fact, NDAs have decreased by 21% from 1999 to 2004. The larger concern raised by the report […] Continue Reading →
Starbucks appeals denial of cancellation of Korean company’s trademark Starbucks is appealing a decision denying cancellation of a Korean company's trademark, asserting it infringes Starbucks' trademark. The Korean company, Starpreya, uses a green circular logo that Starbucks asserts is confusingly similar to its logo. Below are the two logos: Starbucks has already unsuccessfully opposed Starpreya's mark in two cases before the Patent Court of […] Continue Reading →
New Tool for Copyright Owners The Wall Street Journal has posted an article highlighting a new internet tool that tracks copyrighted works being used on the internet. Privately held Attributor Corp. of Redwood City, California offers a search service that scans billions of pages of the internet looking for infringing uses of copyrighted material. Attributor Corp describes its self as […] Continue Reading →
Protecting a business name: the basics MSNBC has published an article with some basic tips for businesses to protect their trade names as trademarks. While the suggestions are fairly generic, it does at least provide some simple guidance for individuals who do not have any experience with intellectual property law in general or trademark law in particular. This piece is similar […] Continue Reading →