All’s Fair in Love and Litigation: The Intellectual Property War of Bumble and Tinder By Sarah M.D. Luth Last month Match Group, which owns Tinder (as well as OkCupid, Match.com and Plenty of Fish) filed suit against Bumble alleging patent infringement, trademark infringement, and misappropriation of trade secrets. See Match Group, LLC, Plaintiff, v. Bumble Trading Inc., Defendant, 2018 WL 1371453 (W.D.Tex.). Match Group argues that Whitney Wolfe-Herd, a co-founder of Tinder, left […] Continue Reading →
Protecting Concepts: The Best in Their Businesses Do Battle By Kirk M. Hartung Basketball superstar Lebron James has challenged perennial college football power Alabama over a sports talk show staged in a barbershop. During last year’s NBA finals, James’ multi-media business, Uninterrupted, premiered its show “The Shop” on ESPN featuring James and other professional players discussing basketball in a barbershop. Alabama recently promoted its show “Shop Talk,” which […] Continue Reading →
Japan Invests in Astronautical Start-ups By Gregory Lars Gunnerson Michael Sheetz of CNBC reports “Japan is offering $940 million to fund space start-ups in a new push to grow the industry, the government announced Tuesday at an event in Tokyo” and that “funds will be made available through investments and loans over the next five years, as part of a government-led initiative to double […] Continue Reading →
SCOTUS to Examine Extraterritorial Infringement Liability and Damages By Blog Staff As a follow up to the MVS Briefs Article, “Extraterritorial Infringement Liability,” authored by Heidi S. Nebel, this blog post examines the briefing in the Western Geco LLC v. ION Geophsycial Corp. case set for oral argument before the United States Supreme Court on April 16, 2018. The question presented to the Court is “[w]hether […] Continue Reading →
Inventor of Long-Range Air Communications with Conformal Antennas Inducted into Hall of Fame By Gregory Lars Gunnerson Howard S. Jones, Jr. has been posthumously honored as a 2018 inductee into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for his innovative work in developing conformal antennas. This invention has been crucial for the development of enhanced capabilities for spacecraft, rockets and other aeronautical technologies. March 1, 2018 marked the 41st anniversary of the issuance of U.S. […] Continue Reading →
A New Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP) is Available / So is A Revised Chapter 2000 For Duty of Disclosure By Blog Staff A New Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP), the ninth edition, Revision 08.2017, was made electronically available on January 25, 2018 According to the PTO bulletin for the new MPEP, the revision includes changes to chapters 200, 700-1000, 1200, 1400, 1500, 1800, 2000-2300, 2500, and 2700. Each section that has been substantively revised has an […] Continue Reading →
In Memoriam–Michael Voorhees By Heidi Sease Nebel IN MEMORIAM Michael G. Voorhees 1941-2018 We are deeply saddened by the loss of an exceptional friend, partner, advocate, and leader. Mike was born in Des Moines, Iowa on April 17, 1941 and received degrees from Iowa State University and Drake Law School. He practiced law in St. Louis, before joining the firm in 1970. […] Continue Reading →
The Future of GMOs in the UK Post-Brexit By Sarah M.D. Luth Following the United Kingdom triggering its formal exit from the European Union, negotiations regarding the details of the exit and the following transition period have begun. As one could expect, this negotiation process has brought to light underlying tensions between the UK and the EU. These tensions recently reached a peak when earlier this month […] Continue Reading →
AIAA Honors Inventor Dr. Jay Gundlach By Gregory Lars Gunnerson On January 16, 2018, Lawrence Garrett reported The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) chose to honor Senior Member Dr. Jay Gundlach in the AIAA Momentum Member Spotlight for January 2018. With respect to Dr. Gundlach’s intellectual property endeavors, Lawrence notes: For the past two decades, Dr. Jay Gundlach has been a pioneering force behind […] Continue Reading →
Protecting Your Company’s Innovations By Kirk M. Hartung In 2017, over 600,000 patent applications were filed with the U.S. Patent Office, the most in its history. Clearly, a business plan for intellectual property may provide substantial value to your company, or you may be leaving substantial value on the table. Failure to plan is, in essence, a plan to fail. A thorough plan, […] Continue Reading →