Chief Judge Michel offers additional thoughts on the Patent Reform Act of 2007 Back when the Patent Reform Act of 2007 (H.R. 1908 and S. 1145) was first introduced, Chief Judge Paul Michel of the Federal Circuit wrote a letter to Senators Patrick Leahy and Orrin Hatch (the Senate sponsors of the Patent Reform Act of 2007) discussing the practical implications of certain provisions of the bill on […] Continue Reading →
Peer to Patent “community” patent review officially launches The Peer to Patent project (previously blogged about June 7, March 5, and February 28) is now up and running for its one year trial period. As noted previously, only computer-related applications are eligible for this pilot program. Thus far, there are five applications in the system: User selectable management alert format (assigned to Hewlett […] Continue Reading →
Senators express concern over Patent Reform Act of 2007 In a letter to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee (which held hearings on the Patent Reform Act of 2007 last week), several Republican members of the committee expressed reservations about the current version of the bill. The contingent, made up of Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS), Tom Coburn (R-OK), Chuck Grassley […] Continue Reading →
Patent Office officially announces pilot plan for submission of prior art by third parties The USPTO yesterday officially announced the institution of a pilot project concerning "public submission of peer reviewed prior art." As we previously blogged on March 5 and February 28, the pilot project will be voluntary, and limited initially to the "computer arts." It will be handled on the Peer-to-Patent website, developed by the Community Patent […] Continue Reading →
Senate hearings on the Patent Reform Act of 2007 As noted previously, the Senate yesterday held hearings on the Patent Reform Act of 2007 (S. 1145). The witnesses were: Jon W. Dudas, Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO Bruce G. Bernstein, chief intellectual property and licensing officer, InterDigital Communications Corp. Mary Doyle, Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary, […] Continue Reading →
KSR at the USPTO: sea change? Over at The Fire of Genius, Joe Miller of Lewis & Clark Law School has compiled a list of cases citing KSR. As of today, there are 2 Federal Circuit decisions (blogged about here and here), 2 district court decisions [Update (6/2) there is now a third], and a whopping 31 Board of Patent Appeals […] Continue Reading →
House subcommittee sends Patent Reform Act of 2007 to full Judiciary Committee The House subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property this week has approved the House version of the Patent Reform Act of 2007 (H.R. 1908). The bill now goes to the full House Judiciary Committee for further review before going to the House for a full vote. Although this is a key first hurdle […] Continue Reading →
Preliminary injunction against Google image search’s display of copyrighted images reversed In a lengthy and tech-heavy opinion [Update (12/4): the court has released an amended opinion, available here], the Ninth Circuit this week reversed a preliminary injunction against Google restricting its image search from displaying thumbnails of images copyrighted by Perfect 10, Inc. There are several aspects of the ruling of interest, such as: Holding that […] Continue Reading →
Coalition of over 100 companies expresses concerns over the Patent Reform Act of 2007 In a letter to democratic and republican leadership as well as the members of the House and Senate judiciary committees, the Innovation Alliance, along with over 100 other companies, expressed concern over many of the proposed reforms in the Patent Reform Act of 2007 (H.R. 1908 and S. 1145). The group states that many of […] Continue Reading →
More continuation rules rumormongering: 2 continuations + 1 RCE? With the AIPLA 2007 spring meeting going on in Boston this week, there has been no shortage of rumors flying about the substance of the new continuation rules expected to be issued by the USPTO in July. According to multiple reports (all apparently originating with Hal Wegner), the substance of the rules is likely to […] Continue Reading →