Palm Restaurant Dispute Leads to Big Monetary Damages By Kirk M. Hartung A lawsuit filed in New York State court in 2012 on behalf of minority shareholders of the famous Palm Restaurant has a recent court decision awarding over $71 million to the plaintiffs against defendants for breach of fiduciary duty. This dispute among family members is premised upon 54 undervalued intellectual property licenses and a reasonable […] Continue Reading →
Coffee by Drone Delivery By Kirk M. Hartung The use of drones in various business applications is becoming common. For example, drones with cameras are used to inspect farm crops, to search natural disaster areas, to provide news coverage, and to make Hollywood films. Historical business are being reinvented and new businesses are being developed by the use of these unmanned aerial vehicles. […] Continue Reading →
It’s Better to Show that Claims Belong to an Unpredictable Art By Blog Staff A non-precedential opinion does not establish a new law, but usually offers good patent application drafting and prosecution tips. BASF CORPORATION v. ENTHONE, INC., came out from the Court of Appeal of the Federal Circuit (CAFC) last Friday, and reminded me of a good tip: include evidence in the record to show that the claims […] Continue Reading →
Protecting Your Nanotechnology Inventions – Part 3: Enabling Your Invention By Jonathan L. Kennedy In granting patent rights, i.e., the right to exclude others from making, using, selling, and importing, the government requires that the inventors educate the public as to their invention by adequately describing it and enabling it. Enablement is a question of whether the application contains sufficient information so as to enable one skilled in the […] Continue Reading →
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 →