Inventor of Revolutionary Cassette Tape Passes Away

By Kirk M. Hartung

The inventor of the cassette tape, Lou Ottens, passed away at 95 last week.  The Dutch mechanical engineer began working for Philips in 1952, and became head of the product development department in 1957. Seeking an improvement to reel-to- reel recording spools and their problem with loose tape, Ottens’ goal was an enclosed case which […]

Antibody Claim Strategies After the Amgen v. Sanofi Decisions

By Charles P. Romano, Ph.D.

Monoclonal antibodies (“mAb”) which specifically bind therapeutic targets dominate the biopharmaceutical market with global sales revenues estimated at nearly US$163 billion in 2019. Prior to the 2017, mAb were often protected in the US by broad claims which described the therapeutic target (i.e., the “antigen”) that the mAb could bind since such mAb could be […]

Letters To and From Senators Express Concern Over Patent Eligibility Problems

By Kirk M. Hartung

The Intellectual Property Owners Association, a trade group representing patent owners, recently sent a public letter to U.S. Senators who are on the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property and on the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet in the House, voicing concerns over the current state of the law on patent eligibility. […]

Celebrating International Women’s Day

By Heidi Sease Nebel

International Women’s Day on March 8th each year celebrates the social, economic, and political achievements of women around the world. The day also brings international awareness to gender parity. The state of Iowa has a storied history of gender equality with the Arabella Mansfield, the first woman in the country admitted to a state bar […]

Right to Repair: Infringement or Exhaustion Part 3

This post is part 3 of a series of posts relating to a person’s right to repair their purchased products. Parts 1 and discussed the general background and several policy arguments surrounding both sides of this issue and the main patent laws and legal doctrine related to the right to repair. This part will discuss […]

Federal Circuit Revives SynQor Patent

By Julie L. Spieker

On February 22, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s decision that SynQor’s US Patent No. 7,072,190 was unpatentable. SynQor’s ‘190 patent relates to technology that converts DC current from one voltage to another for use in large computer systems and data communication equipment. […]

“Safe Harbor” Act May Save Pfizer From Infringement for Covid Vaccine Clinical Trials

By Kirk M. Hartung

In October, 2020, Allele Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals sued Pfizer, Inc.  for infringement of U.S. patent 10,221,221 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.  The pre-Covid ‘221 patent, entitled MONOMERIC YELLOW – GREEN FLUORESCENT PROTEIN FROM CEPHALOCHORDATE, issued on March 5, 2019, and claims priority to a provisional application filed on July […]

Deposit of biological material and the differing national laws

By Brian D. Keppler, Ph.D.

For patent applications in the biotechnology area, a biological material is sometimes essential for carrying out the invention. The biological material can be any material capable of reproducing itself or being reproduced in a biological system, including bacteria, fungi, algae, eukaryotic cells, cell lines, hybridomas, plasmids, viruses, and plant seeds. If the biological material cannot […]

Federal Circuit provides additional insight into § 101 eligibility

By Joseph M. Hallman

On February 8, 2021, in cxLoyalty, Inc. v. Maritz Holdings Inc., the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“Federal Circuit”) dismissed-in-part, affirmed-in-part, and reversed-in-part a decision by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) dealing with covered business method (“CBM”) review and subject matter eligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101. This is […]

Congress Rescues Injunctions for Trademark Owners

By Kirk M. Hartung

On December 27, 2020, as part of stimulus package approved by Congress, the Trademark Modernization Act (TMA) was signed into law.  This law revived the presumption of irreparable harm for trademark owners against trademark infringers. Prior to 2006, trademark owners enjoyed a presumption of irreparable harm when infringement was proven.  Then the U.S. Supreme Court […]