Shoe Wars: Nike’s Use of Utility Patents Against Puma

By Mark D. Hansing

The athletic shoe industry has seen many legal disputes. Intellectual property fights have included trademarks, copyrights, and design patents; all of which protect some aspect of the appearance of the shoes or the logos on the shoes. What is interesting about the recently filed Nike Inc. v. Puma North America Inc., Case No.1:18-cv-10876, in the […]

Design Patents and Indefiniteness

By Luke T. Mohrhauser

            In a recent decision, the Federal Circuit addressed indefiniteness and enablement issues under 35 U.S.C. § 112 as they apply to design patent applications. In In re: Ron Maatita, the court held that two-dimensional drawings in design patents can meet the definiteness and enablement requirements under § 112, and that the determination includes, at […]

Protecting Your Nanotechnology Inventions – Part 2: Defining Your Invention

By Jonathan L. Kennedy

Have you invented materials with improved properties, such that you can seek to protect materials having those properties? Have you invented materials with a new structure such that you can seek protection of that structure beyond your specific species of materials? Have you invented a method that can be applied to items broader than your […]

Bills in Congress would Revoke the PTAB and Restore Patentability of Several Products

Several bills have been introduced in Congress in the last two months that would have a big impact on patent law if passed. The first, introduced at the end of June is HR6264, referred to as The Restoring American Leadership in Innovation Act. Among the provisions of this bill would be elimination of the Patent […]

Federal Circuit Judge Calls for a Fix to the “Abstract Idea” Mess: Part 4

By Kirk M. Hartung

Below you’ll find the last and final post of this blog series concerning the “abstract idea”. To read the previous posts, please view Part 1 of the series, Part 2 of the series, and Part 3 of the series. Prior blog posts illustrate concern from judges of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit regarding […]

An IPR Appellant Must Establish an Injury to Have Standing

By Blog Staff

In JTEKT Corp. v. GKN Auto. Ltd., Appeal No. 2017-1828 (Fed. Cir. Aug. 3, 2018), the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) dismissed an inter partes review (IPR) appeal due to lack of standing. The requirement for an appellant to establish an injury in fact remains firm. JTEKT petitioned for an […]

Federal Circuit Judge Calls for a Fix to the “Abstract Idea” Mess: Part 3

By Kirk M. Hartung

This abstract idea case continues to stir up important matters that we all need to keep a close eye on. Below you’ll find part 3 of this blog series concerning the “abstract idea”. To read the previous posts, please first view Part 1 of the series, and then view Part 2 of the series. The […]

Post-Grant Review of CBM Patents

By Blog Staff

A previous Filewrapper® blog post regarding the legal standard for determining whether a patent qualifies as a Covered Business Method (CBM) patent can be found here. To better understand that discussion, it may be helpful to explain the nature of a CBM patent and the process of reviewing a CBM patent post-grant, which the America […]

Being Old Does Not Equate to Being Less Valuable

By Blog Staff

Last Friday, a Delaware federal jury awarded IBM Corp. more than $82 million after finding Groupon Inc. infringed four e-commerce patents (5,796,967; 7,072,849; 5,961,601; and 7,631,346). These patents relate generally to online customized advertisement services and so-called single-sign-on technology. The oldest patent has a priority date of July 15, 1988 and was granted on August […]

AUTM’s Recommends Narrow Changes to NIST on the ROI Initiative

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently issued a public Request for Information for the Return on Investment (ROI) Initiative. The Association of Technology Managers (AUTM), who supports the ROI Initiative, stresses in their response that the fundamental principles of the Bayh-Dole Act be preserved. As pointed out by AUTM, Bayh-Dole has significantly […]