Ground Control to Robot Tom: Will U.S. Aerospace Corporations Move Into Unmanned Aerial Systems Innovation? By Sarah M.D. Luth Earlier this month the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Aviation held a hearing regarding the emergence of new aerospace technologies—particularly Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) — and how they can be incorporated into existing airspace systems. As unmanned aerospace innovation grows, regulatory agencies correspondingly must consider how to […] Continue Reading →
Patent Eligibility: Hope from the PTO Director By Kirk M. Hartung On Monday, September 24th, the Director of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, Andrei Iancu, stated in a speech to the Intellectual Property Owners Association that his agency is working on new guidelines that address the “mushed up” and “muddled” case law on patent eligibility under 35 USC 101. Once again, Iancu has acknowledged that […] Continue Reading →
Can Starbucks Stop a Competitor from Using the Term “JEW BUCKS” After In re Slants? By Christine Lebron-Dykeman In 2014, SwordPen Publishers LLC filed a trademark application for the mark JEW BUCKS SMART MONEY. RICH COFFEE. for use in connection with restaurant services featuring coffee and espresso drinks. At that time the United States Patent and Trademark Office took it upon itself to stop the registration of this mark under the now defunct […] Continue Reading →
Post Grant Review and Inter Partes Review At a Glance By Blog Staff Patent Office reviews known as a Post Grant Review (PGR) or Inter Partes Review (IPR) of issued patents are constitutional, Oil States Energy Servs., LLC v. Greene’s Energy Grp., LLC, 138 S. Ct. 1365, 1370 (2018), likely to avoid some sovereign immunity challenge, Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe v. Mylan Pharm. Inc., 896 F.3d 1322 (Fed. […] Continue Reading →
Leftover Pizza? Domino’s Reheats Pizza Hut’s Invalidity Claim Against Ameranth Inc. By Gregory Lars Gunnerson Ameranth Inc. asserts it is a leading provider of wireless and Internet based solutions for the hospitality/gaming markets and that it has a very strong intellectual property portfolio including numerous strategic patents in technologies such as Wireless POS, Table Management, Reservations Management, Mobile Concierge, Electronic Menus, Guest Surveys, Inventory Management, Health Care Services and Enrollment […] Continue Reading →
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 →