The preamble of a patent claim normally recites some purpose or objective, but is generally not considered to limit the scope of the claim unless it “breaths life and meaning into the claim.” There are a number of ways that the preamble can take on patentable weight, including by serving as the antecedent basis for […]
Continue Reading →While typically we think of finite resources such as oil and coal as commodities, it could be that the next big commodities are names for craft beers and breweries. According to a recent NPR story, which can be foundhere, the craft brewing industry is becoming an increasingly crowded industry with more than 3,000 breweries in […]
Continue Reading →The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is hosting a Trade Secret Symposium on Thursday, January 8, 2015 at its headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. This symposium is the first of its kind for trade secrets. More information is available on the USPTO website. Both live and webcast attendance is available for this event. The USPTO symposium […]
Continue Reading →In December of 2013, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 3309, the "Innovation Act," ostensibly to address the problem of abusive patent litigation, sometimes referred to as patent trolling. While H.R. 3309 passed with bipartisan support by an overwhelming margin of 325-91 votes, its companion bill failed to clear the Senate. Failure of the […]
Continue Reading →The USPTO today released new Guidance on Patent Subject Matter Eligibility. The new guidance comes nearly 9 months after the first set of “2014 Procedure For Subject Matter Eligibility Analysis Of Claims Reciting Or Involving Laws Of Nature/Natural Principles, Natural Phenomena, And/Or Natural Products“ were released in March 2014. The March guidelines sought to implement […]
Continue Reading →Four recent Supreme Court cases involving patentable subject matter under 35 U.S.C. § 101 (Bilski v. Kappos, Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc., Ass'n for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc., and Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International ) have had the practical effect of heightening the standard for patentability. However, these cases may […]
Continue Reading →The Patent Public Advisory Committee (PPAC) for the USPTO published its Annual Report for the 2014 fiscal year. The annual report is directed to the President of the United States and addresses many issues faced in the previous fiscal year, summaries of goals met, and recommendations for the future. The 2014 report expressed concerns over the […]
Continue Reading →By Jonathan Kennedy On November 3, 2014, a three-judge panel of the Federal Circuit heard oral arguments in In re Cuozzo—the appeal from the first inter partes review ("IPR") instituted by the USPTO. As noted in our previouspost, the appeal presents a number of interesting procedural and substantive issues. While the oral argument did not […]
Continue Reading →By Jill Link As discussed in a series ofpriorpostings, there are various options to expedite examination and/or decrease the pendency and delays associated with patent examination before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). These include: (1) the First Action Interview Pilot Program (see Part 1); (2) Track One Prioritized Examination (see Part 2); (3) […]
Continue Reading →By Jill Link As discussed in at wopostingslastweek, there are a few options to patent applicants to combat the long pendency, slow processing and delays in examination before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The First Action Interview (FAI) Pilot Program and Track One Prioritized Examination were discussed as options to expedite the pace […]
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