Author Archive
Patent Against Trolls a Social Commentary?
As mentioned in the AmLaw Daily, Dennis Crouch’s Patently-O blog reported on a newly published patent application by Halliburton Energy Services. The patent application has claims to what can only be described as a method of doing business when your business is patent trolling, i.e., getting rights to a patent and asserting it against infringers.
Presumably, [...]
How Do You Think the Recession will Affect the Legal Profession?
Now that it appears that we are in a recession — and there’s no good way to nuance that anymore — what does is mean for the legal profession? The legal area was once considered recession-proof with some areas even going up as companies focus on competitors. Now, the demand for legal services is certainly [...]
Book Review Monday: Intellectual Property Culture
cul·ture (n.) the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization (Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary Online).
The book “Intellectual Property Culture: Strategies to Foster Successful Patent and Trade Secret Practices in Everyday Business” by Eric Dobrusin and Ronald Krasnow is much better than its bland title or cover would belie. This is [...]
Patent Searching is Not Just Semantics
There are a number of patent search sites available today. A new one is a semantic patent search — searching by meaning or interpretation of terms — called Setrue Semantic Patent Search Engine by Transformer.
Setrue touts itself as an answer to the growing need of patent search market to a search engine with semantic capabilities [...]
Trinko’s Twist: A New Antitrust Argument Against Product Hopping
As of July 2008, twenty-five states and the District of Columbia have filed antitrust suits against Abbott Laboratories and Solvay’s Fournier Industrie et Santé and Laboratories Fournier in Delaware District Court, charging them with blocking generic competition by engaging in product hopping, among other “anti-generic strategies.” Patent Baristas reported the initial filing here.
As Stephen reported: [...]
Free Offer: Bilski Podcast with CLE Credit
Doug Lichtman, a Professor of Law at UCLA, has alerted us to the fact that he sat down this past weekend with Professor Rob Merges from Berkeley and Professor John Duffy from GW, and they recorded a one-hour audio podcast about Bilski. They have posted it for free, and in downloadable form, on the Web.
In [...]
Will The U.S. Patent Office See Change? Or More Of The Same?
In the ten weeks between the election and the inauguration, we will have plenty of time to ponder what changes, if any, might be in store for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Many believe its interminable quest to improve so-called patent quality has led to a precipitous drop in patent allowances.
The question is, will [...]
What Will The New Administration Bring to Patents and Technology?
Now that Barack Obama is the President-elect of the United States, what does this mean for patents and technology? According to the agenda and philosophies posted on the Obama website, the new administration should pursue mostly a pro-patent/pro-technology agenda.
As the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama will face many great challenges at home [...]
Are Biotech Start-Ups A Bargain? Or Toast?
In a spate of recent articles, it would seem that the world has come to an end in terms of high-tech IPOs — not to mention venture backing of early-stage start-ups. Because of the recent market turmoil, the M&A market has has come to a screeching halt and the window of opportunity for IPOs has [...]
All the News That’s Fit to Blawg
The Center for American and International Law is holding its 46th Annual Conference on Intellectual Property Law (CAILAW) at its headquarters in Plano on November 10-11, 2008.
From 3:30pm-4:15pm on November 10, I will be part of a law blogger panel “All the News That’s Fit to Blawg,” which asks whether or not bloggers are the [...]
Book Review Monday: How To Deal With Your Lawyer
Like it or not, more and more people find themselves in need of obtaining the time and service of lawyers and, as they say, time is money. Not only that, substantive rights are often on the line as clients deal with life and death matters from wills and trust to contracts and real estate to [...]
Paying Off Your Generic Drug Competition? No Problem.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit gave a high-five to settlement agreements between a patent holder and a generic manufacturer saying it doesn’t violate antitrust laws under the Hatch-Waxman Act. In re Ciprofloxacin Hydrochloride Antitrust Litigation (08-1097).
The agreements in question involved a reverse payment from the Bayer to Barr, but did not [...]
Appeals Court Smacks Down Software And Business Method Patents without Apparatus or Transformative Powers
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit handed down the long awaited en banc decision on In re Bilski (07-1130) in which the court looked at the question of when does a claim that contains both mental and physical steps create patent-eligible subject matter and whether a method or process must result in a [...]
Is the IRS Eyeing Tech Transfer Dollars?
According to biotechTransfer week, the IRS set to look over the financial statements of public and private colleges and universities for unrelated income sources like tech transfer.
The Internal Revenue Service is looking to gather information from hundreds of US colleges, universities, and affiliated organizations such as foundations and academic medical centers about their financial practices, [...]
Commissioner John Doll: “We’d Allow Every Patent Application If It Just Met The Requirements”
John J. Doll, Commissioner for Patents, US Patent & Trademark Office, talked today at the BIO Intellectual Property Counsel Committee’s Fall Conference and Committee Meeting, a group with a very keen sense of the importance of patents.
He livened up the discussion in extolling that “We [the Patent Office] don’t have a standard so we’d allow [...]
Joint Infringement? Try To Get Claim Where All Steps Performed by One Infringer
In a session on Case Law Updates, a panel discussion at the the BIO Intellectual Property Counsel Committee’s Fall Conference and Committee Meeting brought up that there was previously a lot of attention on infringement but lately it has been off radar except for joint joint infringement.
Joint infringement comes up as a big issue in [...]
Liveblogging: How Did We Get to Bilski and What Can We Do About It?
In a session on Case Law Updates at the the BIO Intellectual Property Counsel Committee’s Fall Conference and Committee Meeting, Chad Shear led a panel discussion with John Dragseth and Dr. John Garvish through a discussion of Bilski and how we got to Bilski. The case, involved a patent application seeking exclusive rights to a [...]
Hard Rockin’ With iBarista
Editor-in-Chief Barista, Stephen Albainy-Jenei, will be live-blogging the BIO Intellectual Property Counsel Committee’s Fall Conference and Committee Meeting on Oct. 20-22, 2008, at the Hard Rock Hotel at Universal Orlando, Orlando, Florida.
The Conference should be an excellent opportunity for BIO members to hear, listen, and learn about current and projected topics related to biotechnology IP. [...]
A Patent Question of Patents
It’s a well-known fact that drug industries pursue patents with a zeal that few possess – after all, a patent in the hand is worth millions in the bank and a relative monopoly over the pharmaceutical market. They lobby for political support to push these patents through, even if they know that the drugs have [...]
Upcoming Patent Events: High Tech Patent Prosecution
There has been a lot of activity at the Supreme Court and at the PTO in the last year. The increase in litigation increases the cost of pursuing patents and the serious pitfalls companies will face if they are not careful.
It doesn’t take the Amazing Kreskin to realize that the PTO is rejecting a significantly [...]
