On December 30, 2022, a federal judge in the Eastern District of Washington granted a motion for summary judgment seeking to invalidate U.S. Plant Patent No. 20,551, covering a variety of cherry known as Staccato. Staccato is a sweet cherry variety developed by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. The Canadian government, the owner and assignee of […]
Continue Reading →Artificial intelligence (AI) technology is increasingly being used in the healthcare field, and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) plays a crucial role in regulating these applications. Below, we examine the different ways that the FDA regulates AI technology in healthcare and look at some of the challenges and opportunities presented by this rapidly […]
Continue Reading →NFTs represent unique and individualized digital identifiers that cannot be copied, substituted, or subdivided, unlike cryptocurrencies. Both technologies are built and reside on blockchain technology. Both NFTs and cryptocurrencies have a complicated relationship with the patent, trademark, and copyright systems. For example, U.S. copyright laws do not automatically give an NFT owner any rights in […]
Continue Reading →Small and micro businesses can now take advantage of lower patent fees thanks to the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 and the Unleashing American Innovators Act of 2022. These new laws were recently signed into law by President Biden and aim to support small and micro entities by increasing small entity discounts from 50% to 60% […]
Continue Reading →As we close out 2022 and look forward to 2023, we would like to share some of the highlights of MVS over the past year. With video becoming a more important part of business communications, MVS embarked on the creation and completion of several videos that included a firm overview, attorney spotlight videos for Luke […]
Continue Reading →When patent claims are construed and interpreted in an adjudicative proceeding, such as patent infringement litigation in federal court or in an adjudicative proceeding before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”), a preclusive effect can arise which can affect the validity of claims of related patents. For example, on December 8, 2022, in Google […]
Continue Reading →The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has determined that Mariah Carey is officially not the Queen of Christmas. Recently, Carey’s trademark application for “Queen of Christmas” along with the related applications for “QOC” (short for Queen of Christmas) and “Princess Christmas” were rejected by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the USPTO. The […]
Continue Reading →Today we celebrate Technology Transfer Professionals Day that honors those individuals that work to help universities and research institutions advance their critical discoveries to a final product or service. The day was chosen since it was the anniversary of the Bayh-Dole Act, that was enacted on December 12, 1980, and was instrumental in encouraging universities […]
Continue Reading →McKee, Voorhees & Sease is very excited to announce that Heidi S. Nebel, Managing Partner and Chair of the MVS Chemical and Biotechnology Practice Group, has been named Vice Chair of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Patent Public Advisory Committee (PPAC). The PPAC was created by statute in the American Inventors Protection […]
Continue Reading →Despite a global economic downturn and the COVID-19 pandemic, a report recently published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) reveals there was sustained growth in worldwide IP filings in 2021. From 2020, patent filings grew by 3.6%, trademark filings grew by 5.5%, and plant variety applications grew by a staggering 12%. This double digit […]
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