Administrative Law › Constitutional Law › Intellectual Property

Supreme Court Hears Argument on States’ Ability to Exclude Public Records Access for Non-Citizens

On February 20, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in McBurney v. Young, No. 12-17, a case with potentially major implications for businesses that use state freedom of information acts (FOIAs) to obtain...more

In re Simon Shiao Tam

Ex Parte Appeal Brief of Simon Tam of the PTO's Refusal to Register THE SLANTS Trademark

From the Preliminary Statement: This is not yet another case of a member of an ethnic group seeking registration of a supposedly offensive slur on the ground that group members, or he in particular, have “embraced” the...more

Patent Watch: Brooks v. Dunlop Mfg. Inc.

Given Congress' legitimate concerns with respect to the cost and constitutionality of pending qui tam actions, we conclude that the retroactive application of amended § 292 to pending actions was a rational means of pursuing...more

Trademark Registration Application for THE SLANTS

THE SLANTS Trademark Registration Application, Office Actions and Responses, plus Notice of Appeal

Can THE SLANTS be registered as a trademark? In fact, there are many trademark registrations for the word SLANT. But what if the person who wants to register the mark is Asian? According to the PTO, then the mark may not...more

See for yourself, A citizen of a State under Article IV, Section 2, Clause 1 of the Constitution

The case of Dred Scoot v. Sanford (60 U.S. 393, 1856) was meant to be a federal question case. However, it became a diversity of citizenship case when Dred Scott's citizenship was challenged. The Supreme Court...more

District Court Denies Equitable Tolling, Fifth Amendment Taking in Novartis Patent Term Adjustment Case

In another significant Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) case decided last week (Novartis AG v. Kappos, Civ. Action No. 10-cv-1138 (Nov. 15, 2012)), the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia found that Novartis could...more

Internet Gambling Prohibition, Poker Consumer Protection, and Strengthening UIGEA Act of 2012

Reid-Kyl Draft iPoker and iGaming Prohibition Bill Leaked -- "Internet Gambling Prohibition, Poker Consumer Protection, and Strengthening UIGEA Act of 2012" A copy of the Kyl-Reid draft bill on Internet poker enabling...more

The Fate of the Music Industry is Jeopardized by Copyright Decision -- Decision Impacts Billions of Dollars in Royalties

A recent decision out of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit could have lasting implications on all Copyright Royalty Board rate determinations since 2004. In the case Intercollegiate Broadcasting...more

Eli Lilly & Co. File Amicus Brief in AMP v. Myriad

We are living in an age of retrenchment with regard to patent law, where thirty years of Federal Circuit precedent, from the court created by Congress to harmonize U.S. patent law to great public benefit, is being...more

A Look At Abbott’s Citizen Petition Against The Biologics Price Competition And Innovation Act

When the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, those hoping to benefit from the portion of the law known as the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (the...more

"Suggestion" of Mootness or, alternatively, Motion for Remand in AMP v. USPTO

One of the interesting and unresolved issues in the Association for Molecular Pathology v. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office case ("Myriad") involves whether the Federal Circuit, or any U.S. court, has jurisdiction to hear the...more

In re Baxter International, Inc. (Fed. Cir. 2012)

In a dissent from the Federal Circuit's affirmance of a Board determination of obviousness, Judge Newman raises a jurisdictional and separation-of-powers argument in In re Baxter International, Inc. that is destined to be...more

Venable Vitae - May 2012

In this issue: - Improper Calculations of Patent Term Adjustment Where Responses Are Timely Filed Under the Next Business Day Rule - FDA Regulations and the Regulation of Constitutionally Protected Speech - FDA...more

Abbott Asks FDA to Refuse Certain Biosimilar Applications

In a Citizen Petition filed with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on April 2, Abbott Laboratories requested that the FDA refrain from accepting biosimilar applications under the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation...more

The Public Domain – Is It Going To The Birds?

On January 18, 2012, the Supreme Court confirmed 6-2 that certain works that had entered the public domain could have their copyright restored. Golan v. Holder, Case No. 10-545. The works affected are estimated to number in...more

The Burden of Online Misdeeds: Who Should Be Responsible

On Jan. 18, the Internet had its first general strike. Dozens of websites shut down in protest of two bills making their way through Congress – the Stop Online Piracy Act and PROTECT IP Act . The bills’ supporters argued that...more

Constitutionality of Copyright Royalty Board Argued Before the US Court of Appeals - How Will It Affect Future Music Royalty...

The Copyright Royalty Board makes many important decisions, yet for the last several years, there has been a cloud over its operations, as there have been questions as to whether its members were constitutionally...more

Supreme Court Upholds Restoration of U.S. Copyright Protection for Foreign Works in the Public Domain

If you confront the question whether a foreign book, movie, song, artistic work, or other work of authorship is still in copyright in the U.S. or whether such a foreign work is being infringed in the United States, take note...more

SOPA and PIPA: Commentary Round-Up (1.25.12)

If your favorite website went black last week during the "Dark Wednesday" protests against the proposed SOPA and PIPA legislation and you don't know what the big deal was (much less what SOPA and PIPA stand for), below are a...more

Historic Web Blackouts Catapult SOPA into Headlines

The tide may be changing in the controversy over SOPA and PROTECT IP (or “PIPA”), the anti-piracy bills that have been making their way through, respectively, the House and the Senate in recent months. Yesterday’s...more

Protests Mount Against Proposed Law That Would Cripple the Internet

From the Arab Spring to the Occupy Wall Street movement, 2011 was a year of protests. It was capped off with a little-covered (by traditional media) but important protest that will carry on into 2012. We’ll call it the...more

Citizen of a State under Article IV, Section 2, Clause 1 can be a litigant in federal court

The Fourteenth Amendment was adopted on July 28, 1868. The Fourteenth Amendment according to the Supreme Court of the United States, in the Slaughterhouse Cases, changed citizenship under the Constitution. ...more

The Expansion and Possible Contraction of False Marking Cases

Following the Federal Circuit's 2009 Forest Group decision, and continuing after Stauffer v. Brooks Brothers, Inc., the number of false marking complaints under 35 U.S.C. § 292 vastly increased. Some predicted this trend, for...more

FLFMC, LLC v. WHAM-O, INC., v. UNITED STATES

Brief For The CATO Institute and Walter Olson As Amici Curiae In Support Of Defendant-Appellee And Affirmance

Recognizing an opportunity to make quick and easy money, private attorneys have been suing companies under the False Marking Statute, 35 U.S.C. § 292. This law allows any person to sue to enforce a federal criminal statute...more

Reexamination v. Litigation: Which Controls?

The Translogic cases suggest an answer to the question: “What happens to a judgment of infringement when the claims are later rejected in reexamination?” The cases — which are not yet over — appear to show that a finding of...more