Supreme Court to Decide Whether “Secret Sales” are Prior Art By Michael C. Gilchrist Prior art is any publication or activity that can be cited to find a claimed invention invalid as not new or as a merely obvious combination of existing elements. Until recently, the law had been settled that any sale (within the United States) of a product that included claimed features of an invention is prior […] Continue Reading →
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 […] Continue Reading →
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 […] Continue Reading →
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 […] Continue Reading →
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 […] Continue Reading →
Gene Editing Regulatory Setback By Heidi Sease Nebel The gene editing world was dealt a tremendous blow by the European Union (EU) in a decision issued July 25, 2018. The shock comes as the United Stated Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently announced that it would treat all gene edited crops with a deletion as outside of the regulations relating to “genetically modified” crops. […] Continue Reading →
Have You “Got Milk”? By Christine Lebron-Dykeman When you hear the term “Milk”, what comes to mind? Do you automatically think of cow’s milk (or perhaps sheep or goat milk) or do you have a broader definition in mind that covers almond, soy, cashew and other nuts, soybeans, or other plant sources? In 2013, a class action lawsuit was filed claiming that […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit Judge Calls for a Fix to the “Abstract Idea” Mess: Part 2 By Kirk M. Hartung Last week, I began a blog series on the “Abstract Idea” and hope you will continue to follow this critical topic. The previous post from last week can be found here. The concerns regarding the current state of the law regarding patent eligibility raised by Judge Plager in his recent dissent in the decision by […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit Judge Calls for a Fix to the “Abstract Idea” Mess: Part 1 By Kirk M. Hartung I will be posting for the next several weeks in a series regarding the infamous “Abstract Idea” Mess. Stay tuned for next week’s series follow-up! In a decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) dated July 20, 2018, and including AOL, Apple, Google and Yahoo as defendants, Judge Plager […] Continue Reading →
What is an Abstract Idea? By Blog Staff In January of 2018, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published its latest revision of the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP). With regard to patent eligibility, especially on the issue of abstract ideas, the MPEP was extensively updated. The January revision lays out a similar process as was previously used to determine […] Continue Reading →