World Intellectual Property Day 2018

By Kirk M. Hartung

On World Intellectual Property day (April 26), President Trump proclaimed his administration’s goal of improving intellectual property rights in the United States. This is similar to the pledge earlier this month by the new director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Andrei Iancu, in his recent speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to […]

Inter Partes Review Proceedings (IPRs) Do Not Violate Article III of the Constitution per U.S. Supreme Court

By Jonathan L. Kennedy

The U.S. Supreme held in a 7-2 decision (Justice Gorsuch and Chief Justice Roberts dissenting), Oil States Energy Servs. V. Greene’s Energy Group, LLC, that the Inter Partes Review proceedings, commonly referred to as IPRs, do not violate Article III or the Seventh Amendment. The Court was deciding two primary constitutional challenges: (1) whether IPRs violate […]

Patent Office Director Pledges Improvements to U.S. Patents

By Kirk M. Hartung

In a speech to the US Chamber of Commerce, the newly appointed head of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Andrei Iancu, expressed his concern over the current state of the U.S. patent system, and pledged to make improvements within the Patent Office to strengthen and increase predictability.  New laws, courts decisions, and negative commentary […]

All’s Fair in Love and Litigation: The Intellectual Property War of Bumble and Tinder

By Sarah M.D. Luth

Last month Match Group, which owns Tinder (as well as OkCupid, Match.com and Plenty of Fish) filed suit against Bumble alleging patent infringement, trademark infringement, and misappropriation of trade secrets. See Match Group, LLC, Plaintiff, v. Bumble Trading Inc., Defendant, 2018 WL 1371453 (W.D.Tex.). Match Group argues that Whitney Wolfe-Herd, a co-founder of Tinder, left […]

Protecting Concepts: The Best in Their Businesses Do Battle

By Kirk M. Hartung

Basketball superstar Lebron James has challenged perennial college football power Alabama over a sports talk show staged in a barbershop. During last year’s NBA finals, James’ multi-media business, Uninterrupted, premiered its show “The Shop” on ESPN featuring James and other professional players discussing basketball in a barbershop. Alabama recently promoted its show “Shop Talk,” which […]

Amazon Develops Drones that React to Human Gestures

By Gregory Lars Gunnerson

The technology of U.S. Patent No. 9,921,579, which issued on March 20, 2018, may help Amazon grapple with how flying robots might interact with human bystanders and customers waiting on their doorsteps. Apple engineer Frederik Schaffalitzky (formerly an engineer for Amazon) is the sole inventor responsible for these recent technological innovations. While, the parent patent […]

Japan Invests in Astronautical Start-ups

By Gregory Lars Gunnerson

Michael Sheetz of CNBC reports “Japan is offering $940 million to fund space start-ups in a new push to grow the industry, the government announced Tuesday at an event in Tokyo” and that “funds will be made available through investments and loans over the next five years, as part of a government-led initiative to double […]

SCOTUS to Examine Extraterritorial Infringement Liability and Damages

By Blog Staff

As a follow up to the MVS Briefs Article, “Extraterritorial Infringement Liability,” authored by Heidi S. Nebel, this blog post examines the briefing in the Western Geco LLC v. ION Geophsycial Corp. case set for oral argument before the United States Supreme Court on April 16, 2018. The question presented to the Court is “[w]hether […]

Patentability and Patent Protection: Is the Pendulum Starting to Swing Back?

The latest US Chamber of Commerce Global Innovation Policy Center’s International IP Index still places the US on top overall for intellectual property. However, this is due to strength in enforcement of copyrights and trademarks, and improvements in identifying counterfeit goods before they enter the country. According the to Index, the US has dropped to […]

Patent Proposals in Congress

By Kirk M. Hartung

Since the creation of patent reviews at the Patent Office Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) by the America Invents Act of 2011, a very high percentage of reviewed patents have been declared invalid. Now, a bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives which could change these statistics. The bill also could revive issuance […]