Revised TTAB rules published, some take effect August 31, others November 1 As noted last week, the revised TTAB rules were published in today's Federal Register. The final rules are somewhat different than those proposed last January. Some of the new rules include: Opposers/Petitioners will serve copies of the notice of opposition or cancellation petition on the opposing party directly, rather than having the TTAB send out […] Continue Reading →
KSR in litigation: Summary judgment of obviousness granted post-KSR after denial pre-KSR The Wall Street Journal today is reporting about a patent infringement case in the Northern District of California that is believed to be the first instance where a district court has changed its opinion regarding the validity of a patent as a result of KSR. The court found two principles from KSR to "guide" the […] Continue Reading →
USPTO proposes new BPAI rules to cope with upcoming increase in appeals In a Federal Register notice yesterday, the USPTO promulgated revised rules for practice before the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences. The USPTO will accept comments on the proposed rules until September 28, 2007 via email, fax, or postal mail. Many of the proposed rules appear designed to advance the USPTO's current trend toward finding […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit provides more detail on FDA research exemption to infringement The Federal Circuit recently decided a case on remand from the Supreme Court's decision regarding the research exception to patent infringement (35 U.S.C. § 271(e)(1), "The FDA exception"). The Federal Circuit reversed the district court's finding of infringement, holding that the experiments were not infringements because they were reasonably related to research that would be […] Continue Reading →
Sixth Circuit: Proper copyright infringement test applied, finding of no infringement affirmed In a decision Friday, the Sixth Circuit affirmed a district court's finding of no copyright infringement, holding that the lower court had applied the proper legal standard. Specifically, while the district court characterized the test for substantial similarity in a different manner, the application of the test was proper insofar as the court removed from […] Continue Reading →
Revised TTAB rules coming soon The TTABlog reports that the revised TTAB rules initially proposed in a notice of proposed rulemaking on January 17, 2006 are likely to be published in the Federal Register in the next week. The summary of the rules as initially proposed is as follows: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office) proposes to amend […] Continue Reading →
UK rejects proposal for 20 year copyright extension for sound recordings Yesterday the UK Department for Culture, Media & Sport issued a report rejecting a suggestion to push for an extension of copyright term in the EU for sound recordings of 20 additional years, from 50 to 70 years. Citing the Gowers Review of the UK's intellectual property framework, the report notes: [The Gowers Review] concluded […] Continue Reading →
Continuation and claims rules to publish “later this summer,” will take effect 60 days later In a press release today, the USPTO announced that the much-rumored new rules regarding continuation applications and claim limits recently approved by the OMB will publish in the Federal Register "later this summer," and will take effect 60 days after publication. The USPTO notes that the abstracts published with the OMB reflect the abstracts from […] Continue Reading →
Invalidity affirmed on double patenting grounds; inequitable conduct finding vacated In the second of two rulings yesterday, the Federal Circuit found the patent on Toprol-XL® (a drug used to treat hypertension, angina, and congestive heart failure) invalid based on obviousness-type double patenting, affirming summary judgment on the issue. The court vacated and remanded the grant of summary judgment of unenforceability due to inequitable conduct, as […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit affirms requirement to amend listing of goods to exclude goods in another class In the first of two Federal Circuit rulings today, the court affirmed that the USPTO was within its authority when it refused to allow an applicant to rely on the international classification to clarify ambiguities in the listing of goods for a trademark. In affirming the TTAB, the court emphasized the deference due to the […] Continue Reading →