Updates on Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court Utilization in Europe – Part 1 By Jill N. Link, Pharm.D. If you have sought international patent protection in the last two years, you have likely received information about Unitary Patents and the Unified Patent Court in Europe. If not, let me introduce you to the Unitary Patent and the Unified Patent Court. The Unitary Patent became an option for validations of a European patent upon […] Continue Reading →
Legislative Attempts to Limit Federal Court Injunctions By Kirk M. Hartung Iowa’s Chuck Grassley, the longest sitting Senator in Congress (44 years) and chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, commented on recent federal court injunctions relating to Presidential executive orders. In part, Grassley states that there is a “bipartisan problem of universal injunctions.” He further asserted that “in most cases, an injunction should only be against […] Continue Reading →
Does Elon Musk Have Access To Your Patent Application? By Heidi Sease Nebel Under 37 CFR § 1.14 United States Patent applications are preserved in confidence until published, which, by statue is 18 months from the priority date. All of our most sensitive data, new inventions and latest developments in artificial intelligence, engineering, healthcare and technology, safely housed within the USPTO without public access until access is granted […] Continue Reading →
How a Federal Hiring Freeze Could Undermine the U.S. Patent System By Kirk M. Hartung Our U.S. Constitution, Article I Section 8, Clause 8, gives Congress the power to “promote the progress of science and the useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.” This is known as the Patent Clause of the Constitution. The executive order to […] Continue Reading →
A Letter Commemorating MVS’s 100th Anniversary End of Year By Luke T. Mohrhauser As we approach the end of 2024, we hope you have had a successful and fulfilling year. I cannot help but think of what a milestone McKee, Voorhees & Sease had this year making it to our 100th anniversary, an achievement less than 1% of all law firms accomplish. We have exhibited snapshots of our […] Continue Reading →
USPTO Issues Patent Fee Changes for 2025 By Andrew J. Morgan In its final rule issued on November 20, 2024, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued changes to set or increase certain patent fees. The revised fees will take effect on January 19, 2025. There will not be a new fee for After Final Consideration Pilot 2.0 requests as was proposed, nor will […] Continue Reading →
Increased Fees and Other Changes in USPTO Trademark Filings By Christine Lebron-Dykeman On November 18, 2024, the USPTO issued a final rule to increase certain trademark filing fees. The fees will take effect January 18, 2025. While the per Class fee for filing a standard electronic trademark application has not changed and is still $350 per Class, the USPTO has eliminated the distinction between TEAS Standard and […] Continue Reading →
The Onion Buys Alex Jones’ Infowars in Bankruptcy Auction By Julie L. Spieker Yesterday, Global Tetrahedron, the corporation that owns the satirical news website The Onion, was the winning bidder for Alex Jones’ Infowars at a Chapter 7 bankruptcy auction. Jones and Infowars owner Free Speech Systems both filed for bankruptcy in 2022 after eight families impacted by the Sandy Hook shooting won a $1.4 billion defamation award […] Continue Reading →
FTC Issues Rule Banning Non-Competes By Nicholas J. Krob Last week, the Federal Trade Commission’s “Non-Compete Clause Rule” was published in the Federal Register. This rule, which was issued last month and is set to come into effect on September 4, 2024, will have significant implications in terms of non-compete clauses and corresponding contracts if adopted. At their most basic level, non-compete clauses are […] Continue Reading →
Firefly Petunia: A Glow in the Dark Plant By Brian D. Keppler, Ph.D. Plants that glow in the dark, once only in the realm of science fiction, are now set to become a reality for all with the introduction of the Firefly Petunia from Light Bio. The science behind these glowing plants, first detailed in a 2020 publication in Nature Biotechnology, utilizes a bioluminescence pathway from Neonothopanus nambi […] Continue Reading →